With a 2-0 lead from the first leg, Liverpool headed to Villarreal with one foot in the Champions League final.
Jürgen Klopp made five changes to the team that beat Newcastle, bringing back Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konaté, Fabinho, Thiago Alcântara and Mohamed Salah for Joe Gomez, Joël Matip, Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Luis Diaz. Liverpool set up in their usual 4-3-3 formation.
Unai Emery returned to a full-strength side after putting out a weakened team in their loss to Alaves. Villarreal lined up in their usual 4-4-2 shape.
Rather than allowing Liverpool to have control as they did in the first leg, Villarreal instead pressed them high. The strikers would split to each take a centre-back, the wingers would step up onto Liverpool’s full-backs, and a midfielder would step up onto Fabinho or both would move forward if Thiago dropped in too. By cutting off the short passing options, Villarreal were able to force Liverpool into going long and winning back the ball.
When attacking Villarreal mostly looked to overload Liverpool’s backline. Francis Coquelin and Giovani Lo Celso would tuck inside, with Gerard Moreno sometimes pulling into the space to the right, while the full-backs and Etienne Capoue would also push forward to join them. They would then look to hit the forwards quickly with direct passes – often only percentage balls, but with so many players in this area any Liverpool mistake could be pounced upon.
Villarreal managed to get a goal back just minutes into the game. Capoue made an untracked run from midfield as Pervis Estupiñan crossed towards the back post, catching out Liverpool’s defence to square the ball to Boulaye Dia to tap into the net.
Shortly before half-time they got a second, equalising on aggregate. Pau Torres hit a long ball in behind as Villarreal had six players in attack, outnumbering Liverpool’s back four. Capoue crossed towards the back post where Coquelin rose above Alexander-Arnold to head home.
Liverpool had gone from looking comfortable progressing to being back on level terms with the momentum against them. Klopp made several adjustments at half-time. Diogo Jota was removed for Luis Diaz, seeing Sadio Mané move into the middle. He was joined by Naby Keïta pushing forward, with Liverpool attacking in a 4-2-4 shape. They were essentially doing the same thing as Villarreal, leaving the opposition backline with no spare man. Typically they would pass wide then go down the line to Salah, putting Liverpool four-against-four with Villarreal’s backline.
This approach also looked to exploit Villarreal’s press. Whereas Jota had been leading the line, Mané would look to drop off, meaning he and Keïta would take advantage of the space the midfielders left when they pressed. If the centre-backs stepped up to stop them, then Diaz and Salah could exploit the gaps they left in defence.
After struggling in the first half, Liverpool were now able to force Villarreal back again. The Reds retook the lead through Fabinho. The Brazilian pushed past Dani Parejo then offloaded the ball to Salah on the right. Estupiñan passed Salah on to Capoue as he cut inside, but the left-back failed to then take responsibility for Capoue’s man, Fabinho, so Salah simply returned the ball to the Brazilian in the box. Geronimo Rulli adjusted his feet expecting a cross, however Fabinho instead opted to shoot from the tight angle, and, without his feet properly set, the goalkeeper allowed the shot to slip in between his legs into the net.
Minutes later they added another. With Capoue and Parejo drawn forward to press, Keïta and Mané went free behind them and the latter spread the ball wide to Alexander-Arnold. The Scouser crossed and Villarreal’s backline attempted to play an offside trap, however Torres played Diaz onside, allowing him to head past Rulli.
Liverpool took the lead on the night when Torres stepped up for a header only for that header to go straight to Keïta, who played a first time pass for Mané attacking the space in behind Torres. Rulli rushed out to try and get to it first, but the Senegalese managed to touch it away from him, avoid Juan Foyth’s challenge and finish into the empty net.
Liverpool made hard work of it, but they got through to their third Champions League final in five seasons.
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