In the early morning of April 28, Beijing time, the Champions League semi-final continued to be staged, and the second matchday match was still a match between the Premier League and La Liga, with Liverpool sitting at home and ushering in the challenge of Villarreal.
In their respective leagues, the two teams are in very different shapes, Liverpool have soared all the way, clinging to Manchester City in the table, and after having won the League Cup and reached the final in the FA Cup, Liverpool is getting closer and closer to the goal of four champions.
Compared with Liverpool, Villarreal's situation is much simpler, and the La Liga is nearing the end, and Villarreal is temporarily in seventh place, with a nine-point gap from fourth-place Atletico. Obviously, all the focus of the team has been put into the Champions League.
Although on paper, Liverpool's strength is significantly higher than that of the yellow submarine, the Champions League is a knockout event after all, changing rapidly and with greater contingency. In the previous knockout rounds, the yellow submarines, which had always been unpromising, eliminated Juventus and Bayern Munich successively, and the dark horses were full of color.
After the opening, Liverpool took the initiative on the field, and the pace of the game between the two teams was not fast.
In the 5th minute, Liverpool won a corner kick, Mane was unable to quickly connect after stopping the ball, and the ball was destroyed out of the bottom line.
In the 10th minute, Liverpool played a quick attack, Salah passed just right, Mane ran a little over the line and his header was deflected off top.
Two minutes later, Luis Díaz fired a cold arrow from outside the penalty area and Rulli pounced on the ball, but the second reaction was fast enough.
In the 25th minute, Mane stopped the ball inside the penalty area and returned, salah's pocket shot went high over the crossbar.
In the 32nd minute, Mane stopped the ball in the penalty area and turned around, swept the ball in one go, and the ball touched Albior and went out of bounds.
In the 40th minute, Villarreal's defence was slightly lax, leaking space in front of the penalty area and Thiago's long-range shot went straight to the 10-point corner and hit the junction of the goalpost and crossbar.
In the first half, the two teams exchanged blanks, and the number of shots on goal for Liverpool reached 12, but only 2 shots were on target, and Villarreal had only 1 shot on goal.
The second half had just begun, taking advantage of the corner kick opportunity, Fabinho scored, but since Van Dijk had been offside before, the goal was invalid, and the score was still 0-0.
In the 53rd minute, Henderson's cross from the flank met Espilian's foot and refracted, and Rulli was powerless to do anything about it, and the score was rewritten to 1-0.
Villarreal didn't slow down yet, and in the 55th minute, Salah delivered a superb assist and Mane scored.
Two goals in 3 minutes, the champions of the Champions League six instantly threatened, with a total of 860 million Liverpool taking the lead.