Does taking a 2-0 lead in the Champions League knockout stage mean winning? Generally speaking, but when your opponent is Reds Liverpool, that's a different story. In the early morning of May 4, the second leg of the Champions League semi-final began, and the yellow submarine Villarreal sat at the Ceramic Stadium to meet the visiting Liverpool, and in the first half of the 2-0 lead, they were pulled three goals in a row by the opponents in the half, and finally lost 2-3, and the total match was eliminated 2-5. Colombian winger Luis Díaz came off the bench to equalize for Liverpool, becoming one of the biggest contributors to the team's reversal of victory. This is also the 10th time that the Reds have reached the final of the Champions League.
In this campaign, Liverpool rotated 5 people, and Salah, Fabinho and other main players returned to the starting lineup. But Villarreal gave the Reds a knock in the opening three minutes, Capué sent a cross and Diar pushed easily into the goal. In the 41st minute, Capuel delivered another assist and Coquilin scored a header before Alexander-Arnold was released. The 2-0 match also brought both sides back on the same starting line. Throughout the first half, the Yellow Submarine had five shots on goal, scoring 2 goals on 2 goals, while Liverpool had just 2 shots on goal.
At the beginning of the second half, Liverpool, who had been pushed to the edge of the cliff, dispatched their troops, and Luis Díaz came out to replace the underperforming Diogojota. In the 61st minute, Salah received the ball on the right and sent a clever cross, and Fabinho's small angled shot penetrated villarreal goalkeeper Rulli. Five minutes later, Alexander-Arnold's cross from the right was met by Luis Díaz's header, which bounced off the ground and then slipped into the net from Rulli's crotch again, giving Liverpool an equaliser to give a 4-2 lead in the game. In the 73rd minute, Lully made a big mistake again, his blind attack did not touch the ball, Mane got the ball and shrugged off the defender's shovel to calmly hit the empty goal, 3-2, Liverpool successfully rebounded the score, Villarreal was gone.
In this campaign, Liverpool had 56% of the ball, scored 3 goals on 5 of 15 shots on goal, and the second half was full of firepower. Villarreal, on the other hand, did not have a single shot in the second half under the Reds' formidable attack. In the face of Liverpool, which has a large number of soldiers, the magic such as Emery is powerless to return to the sky.
Colombian winger Luis Díaz was naturally the first to achieve a miraculous reversal of two-on-three, not only scoring the equaliser in the 66th minute, but also contributing a game-high four shots and four successful breakthroughs, single-handedly tearing apart the impregnable Villarreal backline in the first half. After the match, the Colombian international, who won the best player of the field and reached the Champions League final for the first time in his career, also shed tears of joy.
In the winter window this season, Luis Díaz moved from Porto to Liverpool for 45 million euros and quickly integrated into the team, so far, he has scored five goals and provided three assists for Liverpool in 21 games in all competitions, including 2 goals and 1 assist in 6 Champions League games. The incredible speed, excellent technique, the variety of offensive methods and the exquisite passing are all impressive. In this game, he once again showed the style of Mr. Key. In this way, the value of 45 million euros is simply great value for money.
Liverpool's number one star Salah, although he gave an assist in this game to sound the horn of the team's counterattack, his performance was still much inferior to that of Louis Díaz. In the 90 minutes of the game, Salah conceded two shots and lost the ball twice. In addition to that assist, his 2 successful breakthroughs and 2 key passes are among the few highlights. In fact, Salah's performance has been tepid in recent times, and there is a big gap compared to the all-powerful explosion of the first half of the goal assist.
There is no doubt that in this Liverpool team, there is only one superstar, and that is manager Klopp. Salah's performance in the past few years is also more due to his excellent tactical system. With a fierce reinforcement vision and a flexible tactical system, Klopp led the Reds, who did not have enough money at hand, to the top of the Premier League and Champions League venues. So, even if Salah doesn't renew his contract and leaves, Klopp will recreate a new killing god, such as Luis Díaz, who is already in the squad.