In the early morning of Beijing time today (14th), the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals was all over. In Liverpool's home match against Benfica, the two sides scored three goals 3-3 to make it 3-3, but Liverpool won the first leg with a 6-4 victory on aggregate to advance to the Champions League final four.
Compared with the Battle of Manchester City Atletico, which was full of fire but difficult to score, Anfield, which started at the same time, was a goal between the plum blossoms, and the two teams did not lose their harmony. After Liverpool showed the difference in strength between the two sides in the first leg and completed a technical knockout at the Stadium of Light, Klopp may have wanted a decent promotion before the three battles of the City of Zhou. And Verisimo also used a sufficiently open attack to draw a complete end to the "Red Dragon" champions league journey this season: the home team continued to remain unbeaten at home, and the away team further brushed the value of Gaunuñez, and both sides took what they needed, not hurting and angry.
In the previous 12 European home games against Portugal, the Reds have won 8, drawn 3 and lost 1, the only defeat occurred in 2006, when Benfica under Koeman beat the tired home team 2-0 at Anfield, and Gerrard's dream of defending the title was shattered. Despite Yin Jian's presence, the Reds, who are advancing on all four fronts, are no less loaded than Manchester City, which were stripped of their skins in Madrid. Liverpool rotated as many as 7 people, retaining only 4 starters in the Battle of The City, Jota, Henderson, Matip and Alisson, but Rao was so, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Curtis Jones and other bench-bench native hukou books, still watching from the sidelines. And Liverpool's Foy will still be the Conat who made a contribution in the last round, it is a corner kick, and it is a header relay, but this time it is not Robertson who assists, but the Scotsman's stand-in Zimmikas. The French centre-back became the fourth player in red army history to score back-to-back goals in the quarter-finals, compared to Crouch, Salah and Firmino, which was a bonus.
However, Conat's goal fortunes could not erase the negligence of a defensive line that had never been paired together: after Núñez's offside goal was blown to no avail, Milner, who set the record for the oldest starter in the Champions League for an English player in nine years, assisted in the defense of the front of the penalty area. But the Liverpool defenders raised their hands to the referee to signal offside, and Gonzalo Ramos decisively ate the cake to equalize. The most active of the half-time was Milner, who ran 6.82 km, and after Zimikas completed the assist, Liverpool's full-backs have completed 41 assists on all fronts this season, including cup players such as Nico Williams and Bradley, which has set a new team record at the end of the season for a month and a half.
Around an hour after the game, the Reds nearly took Benfica away in 10 minutes. Firmino appeared twice in no man's land at the back post, comfortably opening up twice. In the two goals conceded, the Benfica defense was distracted, and it was really inferior to the focus they had in the last round of promotion. Fertonghen was caught by Jota without any pressure, and when defending the set-piece, Benfica was all tied, resulting in a missed top resulting in a total defensive failure. But even in the face of the same score as the first leg, Benfica, who almost did not have the opportunity to reach the Champions League next season, has not given up on his efforts. Substitute Yaremchuk completed a counter-offside pullback and a VAR replay showed Joe Gomez dragging in the last position on the right. Weigel's long pass then penetrated the Liverpool defence again, with João Mario rubbing the ball in front of him and Núñez at the back to push the far corner in reverse, and the two sides returned to the same running line.
It seemed that the goal battle was not too addictive, and since then Mane and Nunez have each scored once, but the confused VAR intervened and cancelled the goal. Although Liverpool, who played in the substitute squad, qualified as desired, the opponent scored 3 goals in only 4 shots, and without Van Dijk town defense and the lack of Fabinho's wing protection, the defense was really worrying. For Benfica, Nunez set a new club Champions League single-season scoring record with 6 goals, scoring consecutive goals against strong teams. As a feast for a number of giants in the summer window competition, Nunez, although regretting the result, has no shame about the process: "We have given everything for the team on the pitch, playing here is a difficult thing, not everyone can do it like us, the result of the game is not enough to let us advance to the next round, but we will leave the stadium with our heads held high. ”
Klopp, who implemented the big rotation, also silently after the game: "I'm not happy, please kick me out." It's definitely not what we want, but it definitely doesn't matter because even if we played our best performance of the season tonight, it doesn't make us more likely to reach the final. We moved on to the next round, and that's what mattered. And facing the upcoming dark horse Villarreal, facing Klopp, who has a dominant record in Emery, in the Premier League, it is still cautious enough: "If you start analyzing them now, it would be strange, I saw their game, it was really impressive. I just thought about it, but with Juve and Bayern eliminated, they deserve to be able to reach the semi-finals. Emery is the king of cup matches and everything he does is incredible, but please give us a little time and let's get ready. ”
Wen | Yang Jian
Edit | Peppery Soup