At 3:00 a.m. Beijing time on May 4, a showdown in the second leg of the 2021-2022 Champions League semi-finals began, Villarreal sat at the Ceramic Stadium to meet Liverpool, and a Champions League final team was successfully born!
In the first leg, the two sides fought to 2-0, and Liverpool took the lead, but they could not underestimate their opponents. Villarreal is known as a yellow submarine, and although the club is located in a small Spanish town of just over 50,000 people, it is a chill in the face of major giants.
In terms of the starting of the two teams, head coach Emery adopted a 442 formation for Huang Qian, with Herard Moreno and Braye Dia pairing up as two strikers, and Parejo and Capué in the middle of the midfield.
Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool are in the usual 433 formation, with Salah, Mane and Jota forming an attacking trident, and the midfielders are Thiago, Fabinho and Nabi Keita. Judging from the paper lineup, the Strength of the Red Army in the Premier League is even better.
However, at the beginning of the game, Villarreal showed his dark horse nature and successfully made a fantastic start at home! In the 2nd minute, Huang Qian launched a quick attack, And Capue in the penalty area received a cross from the left side of his teammate, and Braye Dia successfully pushed and scored! The score was 1-0!
Liverpool's next few attacks did not pose an obvious direct threat, but Huang Qian went to the next city, and the game was full of suspense! In the 40th minute, Capuel delivered his second assist with a cross from the right and Cochrane jumped up in front of goal to head the ball into the goal! 2-0, Villarreal led by 2 goals in the half, and the two sides drew 2-2 on aggregate!
Although Villarreal seems to be a certain gap between the overall strength and the world-class team, the team has a high overall efficiency, which may be an important reason why they can beat Bayern and advance to the top 4 of the Champions League.
In the second half of the game, Liverpool finally began to play a strong force and staged a series of counterattack attacks. In the 61st minute, Salah received the ball in front of him and passed the ball cleverly, and Fabinho kicked a small angle inside the penalty area to break the goal! Liverpool finally scored, 2-1!
Just five minutes later, in the 66th minute, Liverpool quickly changed the situation on the pitch completely, with Alexander-Arnold on the right kicking a precise left-footed cross and Luis Díaz scoring a successful header in front of goal! The score was 2-2, and the two sides fought to a draw.
Liverpool scored two goals in 5 minutes to tie the results of Huang's efforts in the first half with great speed. In the 73rd minute of the game, Mane successfully passed the Argentine goalkeeper Lully in the front, and then flashed past the defender into the box to push the empty goal! The score was refreshed to 2-3, and Liverpool scored three goals in 12 minutes to stage a reversal!
At the end of the game, the score of the second leg of the Champions League semi-final was fixed at 2-3, Liverpool refused to upset the cold and let the two chase three away to reverse Huang Qian, with an aggregate score of 5-2 successfully reached the final, sitting and waiting for the peak showdown.
Villarreal sadly lost at home, but the team has performed well enough to play an admirable game despite the defeat!