Liverpool vs. Villarreal – Villarreal head to Anfield on Wednesday night for the opening leg of their Champions League semi-final against Liverpool. The Reds overcame Benfica 6-4 on aggregate in the quarter-finals, while the Yellow Submarine dispatched Bayern Munich.
The attention was on Darwin Nunez during the second leg of Benfica’s quarter-final at Anfield, and he delivered, but Liverpool carved three times through the veteran backline of Jan Vertonghen and Nicolas Otamendi to move closer to European success.
With less than a month left in the 2021-22 season, Liverpool might add four trophies to their already stacked cabinet, albeit the Premier League title remains out of their hands. In Sunday’s Merseyside derby, Divock Origi scored a late consolation goal after Andy Robertson had opened the scoring, and the Reds go into the first leg against Villarreal on a three-game winning streak.
With both Benfica and Inter Milan having won their first legs at Anfield, Klopp’s team had already secured a place in the semi-finals of the Champions League, FA Cup and EFL Cup in the same season. Liverpool have scored at least two goals in every game since the start of April, but Unai Emery and Villarreal expect respect before the Spaniard returns to English soil.
Juve and recently Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich failed to find a winning formula against Emery’s well-drilled squad in previous Champions League rounds ,With Robert Lewandowski’s goal in the 88th minute, Villarreal had a 2-1 aggregate victory after shutting out Julian Nagelsmann’s team 1-0 in the first leg.
Liverpool vs. Villarreal – Betting Analysis
Emery’s team have already beaten Getafe and Valencia in La Liga, so they should be confident of a solid result on Merseyside. Villarreal have scored in all four of their Champions League away games since losing to Manchester United in September, although their only prior semi-final appearance in 2005-06 ended in defeat to English opposition Arsenal.
With Emery’s record of 31 wins out of 37 in European knockout games (second only to Zinedine Zidane), the Kop should be wary on Wednesday night.
Villarreal thrashed Juventus at home. Emery’s squad lost at the Allianz Arena. A spectacular away win and a pleasant plane ride home are on the cards for the travelling party ,We expect Liverpool to overcome Villarreal’s resistance and win the first leg, but they will have to be even more patient than they were against Everton.
Liverpool vs. Villarreal – Head-to-Head:
Our Predictions: Home To Win
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