In the second leg of the 2021-22 Champions League semi-final, Liverpool will face Villarreal away from home and Real Madrid will face Manchester City at home. Whether the Yellow Submarines can turn over at home, whether Benzema can equal the record held by Cristiano Ronaldo, and the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals are full of highlights.
Liverpool hit the quadruple crown
Over the past four weeks, Klopp has gradually taken a different view of the topic of the quadruple crown, changing from "this is unrealistic" at the beginning to "I don't know if we can be in this position". Historically, only the Celtics in the 1966-67 season have ever been crowned four titles.
Liverpool have already won the League Cup this season, taking on Chelsea in the FA Cup final while competing with Manchester City for the Premier League title. Despite winning 2-0 in the first leg, Klopp remained cautious about advancing to the final.
In addition, whether Mane can break Drogba's record of scoring goals for African players in the Champions League knockout rounds is also worth paying attention to. At present, Mane and Drogba are at the top of the List of African players in the Champions League knockout rounds with 14 goals, and Salah is third with 11 goals.
Huang Qian continued his home unbeaten record
After losing the first leg away, Emery said, "It's going to be completely different at the Ceramics Stadium. Coach Huang Qian admitted that the score in the first leg may be bigger, but their optimism is also reasonable.
Since losing to Barca in La Liga in November 2021, Villarreal has not lost at home for more than five months. Like Liverpool, Bayern was a favourite in the quarter-finals, but it was the Yellow Submarine that finally advanced.
A kick in the door hurts Manchester City
In the first leg of the meeting, when Mahrez wasted a good opportunity to score, causing City to fail to extend the score to 3-0, an enraged Guardiola yelled from the sidelines.
Against Real Madrid, Manchester City players continue to squander opportunities, and Mahrez even has hope of completing a hat-trick. In this game, City's attacks reached 77, while Real Madrid had only 28.
Foden said after the game, "We started really well and could have killed them. In a game like this, we need to take advantage of opportunities better. City won 4-3 in the first leg, leaving the second leg full of suspense.
Benzema stormed Ronaldo's record
Prior to this season, Benzema had never scored more than seven goals in a single Season in the Champions League. After scoring twice in the first leg against Manchester City, Benzema has scored 14 goals in the Champions League, and if he scored three more, the Real Madrid striker will equal the Champions League single-season scoring record set by Ronaldo with 17 goals.
In fact, Benzema has already equalled Ronaldo's single-season goal record in the Champions League knockout rounds with 10 goals. If the campaign breaks again, Benzema will break the record held by the Portuguese.
The two teams scored seven goals in their first leg, while in Champions League history, the two-legged goal record in the semi-final was set by Liverpool against Roma in 2017-18, when the two teams scored 13 goals in two legs.