In the early morning of This morning Beijing time, in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final, Liverpool defeated Villarreal 3:2, and then eliminated the opponent 5:2 on aggregate to reach the Champions League final.
This is the third time in the past five seasons that a Premier League powerhouse has advanced to the Champions League final.
Colombia international Luis Díaz, who just moved to Liverpool in February, changed the game in the second half as a substitute and became a key man for Liverpool to advance to the final.
Fabinho scored
In the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals, Liverpool played Villarreal away.
With just 111 seconds in the first half, Villarreal's Dia took the lead in breaking the deadlock. Just before half-time, Liverpool lost again and Cochrane scored to help Villarreal tie the aggregate.
Liverpool, two goals behind, made adjustments at halftime, replacing Jota with Colombia international Luis Díaz. As a result, Liverpool scored three goals in the second half to reverse the game.
In the 62nd minute, Salah assisted Fabinho and the Brazil international broke the goal to pull a goal back for Liverpool.
In the 67th minute, Alexander-Arnold's precise cross was met by Díaz's header and Liverpool scored another goal.
Two minutes later, Mane scored a one-sided goal to help Liverpool finally reverse the victory and reach the Champions League final.
After the match, Luis Díaz was named the best player of the game by UEFA.
"Luis Díaz came out and changed everything." After the match, the UEFA Technical Observer Group believed that Díaz had become a key factor in Liverpool's reversal of the game. He played well on the left, revitalizing Liverpool's left-wing attacking line and allowing defender Robertson to concentrate on defence.
"Dias was very special. It's not easy to replace Jota at half-time, he's been great this season, but Luis Díaz — he's really good at that half. Liverpool defender Robertson said.
It is worth mentioning that Díaz just moved to Liverpool in February this year.
Because of his outstanding performances in the Group Stage of the Champions League this season for the Portuguese Premier League team, the Colombian international with Indian ancestry made Klopp shine, and in the January winter window, Liverpool did not hesitate to recruit him for 60 million euros and signed until 2027.
The highest achievement of Luis Díaz's career was at last year's Copa America, the only player besides Messi to score four goals, sharing the Copa America Golden Boot with Messi.
In four goals, including his appearance for the Colombian national team against Brazil, he scored an upside-down golden hook.
This season's Champions League final will be held at the Stade de France in Paris on the 29th of this month, and Liverpool's final opponents will be the winners of Real Madrid and Manchester City.