In the Champions League, dark horses have always been rampant, but the real ones who can go to the end and lift the championship trophy are basically the top giants with hard power.
The 2003-04 season is an exception, although Porto and Monaco in the final are all giants in their respective leagues, but in the entire five major leagues, they can only be regarded as the second-class team, and before the final, the giants are all destroyed, which is extremely rare.
In the semi-finals of the 2018-19 season, this situation recurred, Ajax was also the top powerhouse in the Champions League, but it was not counted at that time. Spurs eliminated Ajax in a thrilling way to reach the Champions League final for the first time in their history, but after all, it is also a Big 6 team in the Premier League.
Villarreal, who can eliminate Juve and Bayern all the way to the semi-finals in the Champions League this season, is not comparable to Ajax and Tottenham Three years ago.
Ajax is a real "star factory", with new stars such as Frankie De Jong and De Ligt doing well. Spurs themselves are already the level of Premier League giants, with famous players such as Kane and Son Heung-min in the squad.
What does Villarreal have? Probably only scrappy spirit. The overall strength is in the second gear in La Liga, and the top scorer in the squad, Danjuma, is still from the Championship. Emery, who has coached Greater Paris and Arsenal, is a really level coach.
In the first leg of the Champions League semi-final away to the Premier League team, Villarreal did not concede as much as Real Madrid, but Emery did not have Benzema under his account, so don't think about scoring away goals, just lose a few. 0:2, which is not a bad result.
In the early morning of May 4, Beijing time, the two sides moved to the ceramic stadium to fight again.
Liverpool were tired from the fights and the laborers were far away.
Villarreal is idle. In the last round of La Liga, Villarreal lost 1-2 away to Alaves at the bottom of the La Liga table, and Emery hid most of the main force and waited for the second leg of the Champions League semi-final to die with Liverpool.
Emery almost succeeded!
Rulli/Estupina, Paul Torres, Albiol, Fois/Corqueline, Capuel, Parejo, Lo Celso/Breyer, Gerald Moreno
It was Villarreal's start, and it was a great pity that the top scorer, Danjuma, was injured.
Alisson/Robertson, Van Dijk, Conat, Arnold/Thiago, Fabinho, Keita/Manet, Jota, Salah
This is Liverpool's starting lineup, with the starting eleven being worth a whopping €640 million. On the bench there are also Luis Díaz, Origi and other good players.
Liverpool's offensive firepower is strong, and in today's world, it is difficult for any team to withstand Liverpool's attack, but the defense is far from monolithic, and the Premier League relegation team can find loopholes in the Liverpool defense. Just three minutes into the opening, Liverpool conceded the ball when Ostupinan's cross from the left was met by Capuel and Blaie Dia pushed the empty goal.
In the 40th minute, Capué's cross from the right was met by Corquelin pressing Arnold's header into the net. The first half tied the aggregate score, a testament to Villarreal's prowess.
But Liverpool are the top powerhouse after all, and in the 61st minute, Fabinho pierced The Lully's goal, Liverpool 1-2 Villarreal, the aggregate score is still 3:2 lead. In the 66th minute, Alexander-Arnold's cross from the right was met by Luis Díaz's header and Liverpool equalised, leading 4-2 on aggregate. In the 73rd minute, Keita picked out a pass, Mane singled out, Lully attacked but failed to destroy the ball, Mane swung past Voyt to empty the goal, locking the score to 3:2.
Judging from the situation in the first half, Villarreal had the hope of performing a miracle, but emery did not have any money on his hands, and the top scorer Danjuma was injured. And Liverpool in the 0-2 behind, the second half of the three goals in a row to reverse, so combat power, whether it is manchester City or Real Madrid in the final, there is no problem.
When encountering Manchester City, just the Premier League and the Champions League double line fight each other to the death, the Champions League trophy is not flowing to outsiders; when it comes to Real Madrid, it is just revenge for the 2017-18 Champions League final being bullied.