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Liverpool rebound from horror start to make Champions League final

Published:Wednesday | May 4, 2022 | 12:13 AM
Liverpool’s Fabinho celebrates after scoring his side’s opening goal during the Champions League semi-final, second-leg soccer match between Villarreal and Liverpool at the Ceramica Stadium in Villarreal, Spain yesterday.
AP
Liverpool’s Fabinho celebrates after scoring his side’s opening goal during the Champions League semi-final, second-leg soccer match between Villarreal and Liverpool at the Ceramica Stadium in Villarreal, Spain yesterday.

VILLARREAL, Spain (AP):

LIVERPOOL PLAYERS stared at each other in disbelief. By the bench, manager Jürgen Klopp watched in awe.

Just like that, Liverpool had squandered their two-goal lead from the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals against Villarreal, and their spot in the final was suddenly in jeopardy.

Would Liverpool be the latest powerhouse to be stunned by the modest Spanish club? Would their bid for a seventh European title end in disappointment?

Luckily for the English club, it was only a scare.

Liverpool rallied in the second half to defeat Villarreal 3-2 and reach their third Champions League final in five seasons yesterday. They advanced 5-2 on aggregate at the La Cerámica Stadium.

“You could see how impressed we were with them in the first half,” said Klopp, who will be making his fourth Champions League final appearance as coach, joint-most with Miguel Muñoz, Alex Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti and Marcello Lippi. “To come back and win in the second is really impressive.”

After Boulaye Dia and Francis Coquelin put Villarreal ahead by the 41st minute, Fabinho, substitute Luis Díaz and Sadio Mané scored in the second half to propel Liverpool into the final for the first time since winning their sixth European title in 2019. It will be Liverpool’s 10th final in Europe’s top club competition.

Based in a city of 50,000 people in southern Spain, Villarreal had eliminated Juventus in the round of 16 and Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals.

Unai Emery’s team played a man down from the 86th after Étienne Capoue, who assisted on both Villarreal’s goals, was sent off with a second yellow card.

Liverpool will play the May 28 final in Paris against either Premier League rival Manchester City or 13-time European champion Real Madrid. They will meet today in Madrid with City defending a 4-3 win from the first leg in England.

The victory also keeps alive Liverpool’s hopes of a ‘quadruple’ – winning all four major trophies in one season.