41 minutes: Mane finishes off a short pass to Luis Díaz on the edge of Villarreal’s penalty area. Juan Foyth slides in to steal the ball with a perfectly timed if slightly risky tackle. The inhabitants of Kop ask for a sanction, but none is imposed.
39 minutes: Luis Díaz is penalized for a foul on Dani Parejo near the edge of Villarreal’s penalty area. The visitors are making this game as grueling as possible for Liverpool and the natives in the stands are growing restless.
36 minutes: With Villarreal in a rare attack, Dani Parejo tries to get Lo Celso out with a ball from the sideline. His target touches the ball but he is stretched out and cannot control it.
35 minutes: From the baseline, Alexander-Arnold scores for the first time a Robertson ball from deep in the Villarreal penalty area. Salah reaches the end of his center, but deflects it.
34 minutes: A Salah volley is blocked by a Giovani Lo Celso lunge. He is a Liverpool corner, which Villarreal clears.
33 minutes: Liverpool keep knocking on Villarreal’s door. A shot from Mane is deflected by Raul Albiol and past Rulli, but he narrowly misses the post.
32 minutes: Villarreal goalkeeper Rulli deflects a shot in no man’s land but gets away with it, then Virgil van Dijk is yellow carded for a bodycheck on Samuel Chukwueze.
31 minutes: Liverpool attack down the right again with ALexander-Arnold and Salah linking up to good effect. Salah tries to get a run out of Mane but Pau Torres intercepts and clears.
27 minutes: Pau Torres goes to the ground after sending a ball to the face after a Trent Alexander-Aarnold free kick. There is a lull in the game as the cartoon parakeets flying around his head are pushed away by the physical therapist.
27 minutes: Mo Salah shoots a left footed shot a little high and wide after Mane pushed it. Close but no cigarette.
25 minutes: A heavy bunt from Luis Diaz, who was trying to select Trent Alexander-Arnold near the baseline, goes wide. Villarreal goal kick.
24 minutes: Coquelin blocks a Trent Alexander-Arnold cross attempt and kicks the ball out for a corner. Nothing comes out of it.
23 minutes: Thiago selects Henderson near the baseline and his low cross from a very tight angle goes to the side of the net. In Villarreal’s goal, Rulli had covered any danger at the near post by deflecting the wide ball.
20 minutes: With nearly a quarter of this game lost, it’s fair to say this isn’t a repeat of last night’s game between Manchester City and Real Madrid in terms of excitement or entertainment. Both teams will be quite happy with how things are going so far, but Liverpool are way over the top.
18 minutes: Arnaud Danjuma receives the ball in the middle of the Liverpool area and tries to pass it wide to Samuel Chukwueze on the right. Andy Robertson intercepts.
16 minutes: Robertson’s inside shot is headed clear by Raúl Albiol on the edge of the six-yard box.
15 minutes: Liverpool is on the rise, but Villarreal is hanging on. Corner for the hosts.
14 minutes: Luis Díaz tries to shoot on goal from outside Villarreal’s penalty area. Geronimo Rulli blocks it but fails to hold it, but catches it on his second try.
12 minutes: Mane overcomes Villarreal’s offside trap to run into Salah’s cross from the right. The ball is slightly behind him and he has to twist in the air. Wide.
11 minutes: Villarreal win their first corner of the match but the delivery does not clear the first man. Liverpool of course.
7 minutes: A header from Ibrahima Konate lands at the feet of Sadio Mane just outside Villarreal’s small area. He was not expecting it, he is not able to control the ball and it falls on his shin and he is out of danger.
5 minutes: Andy Robertson tries to head in a cross from Thiago in front of the Villarreal goal. Wide. There is another thumbs up for the Spaniard, who must feel that Paul McCartney has granted him an audience, such is the number of thumbs of approval that are kept in his direction.
3 minutes: Thiago Alcantara’s raked pass from deep to Mo Salah is too heavy and bounces off the Villarreal goal. The Egyptian gives his partner the go-ahead.
2 minutes: Andy Robertson and Virgil van Dijk exchange several passes in quick succession, the first deflected down the left flank and his Dutch teammate about 10 meters into Villarreal’s midfield, in midfield.
Liverpool-Villarreal goes…
1 minute: Liverpool gets the ball rolling on a warm spring afternoon on Merseyside. They are attacking the Kop in the first half, forced to change sides by their visitors, who won the toss.
Not so long now: With the players ready to come out of the tunnel and a tenth of the population of the town of Villarreal mingling with the locals at Anfield, You’ll Never Walk Alone resounds over the PA. Both sets of fans are giving a lot as they sing along.
That Liverpool team: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp makes three changes to the team that beat Everton on Sunday for tonight’s game.
Ibrahima Konate replaces Joel Matip in central defence, Jordan Henderson replaces Naby Keita in midfield and Luis Diaz starts ahead of Diogo Jota. Kostas Tsimikas and Curtis Jones are absent due to non-Covid related illnesses.
Timely reminder that Villarreal subsidized half of their fans’ travel/match ticket costs, for a total of €300 per fan. Club season-ticket holders can buy a ticket for the first leg for just €10. Demonstrate that it is possible for clubs to respect fans and treat them appropriately. https://t.co/aTcv0Ggg18
— Colin Millar (@Millar_Colin) April 27, 2022
Alignments of the Liverpool-Villarreal
Liverpool: Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, van Dijk, Robertson, Henderson, Fabinho, Thiago, Salah, Mane, Diaz.
Substitutes: Milner, Keita, Gomez, Adrian, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Minamino, Jota, Origi, Matip, Kelleher, Elliott, Williams.
Villarreal: Rulli, Foyth, Albiol, Torres, Estupinan, Chukwueze, Parejo, Capoue, Coquelin, Lo Celso, Danjuma.
Substitutes: Sergio Asenjo, Mario, Alcacer, Iborra, Trigueros, Dia, Pena, Mandi, Moi Gomez, Pedraza, Aurier, Jorgensen.
Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland)
Tonight’s match officials
- Referee: Szymon Marciniak
- Assistant referees: Paweł Sokolnicki and Tomasz Listkiewicz
- Fourth referee: Slavko Vincic
- Video Assistant Referee: Tomasz Kwiatkowski
Guardian Football Weekly Podcast
In the latest episode of our award-winning podcast, Max Rushden and guests, including yours Nicky Bandini and Sid Lowe, go through the bones of last night’s epic ding-dong at the Etihad Stadium, anticipate tonight’s match at Anfield and chat with Calum Jacobs on his excellent new anthology A New Formation: How Black Footballers Shaped The Modern Game.
If you’re not a subscriber yet, you can tune in by clicking the link below or sign up for free in all the usual places. And if you like what you hear, we’ll be touring the UK and Ireland this summer, so why not come see us somewhere near (or far away) from you? Click here for more information or to purchase tickets.
First team news
Roberto Firmino is Liverpool’s only injury concern, the Brazilian striker missing Liverpool’s last two Premier League games with a foot injury. While nothing serious, tonight’s game is expected to come too soon for him. “I don `t believe [he is ready] yet,” the Liverpool boss told the club’s website. “He’s running outside and that’s good, obviously, but I’m not sure.
Villarreal are likely to be a couple of Morenos down, with former Liverpool defender Alberto still recovering from a cross injury he picked up in early March. His namesake but no relation to him Gerard is also a doubt with a hamstring injury that ruled the striker out of his side’s derby victory over Valencia last Tuesday. Winger Yeremi Pino is definitely missing out with a hamstring injury.
Champions League: Liverpool vs Villarreal
With the dust barely settled on last night’s thriller at the Etihad Stadium, Liverpool and Villarreal go head-to-head at Anfield in the first leg of this season’s other Champions League semi-final.
They have a tough act to follow, but while Villarreal are the least liked of the last four, their elimination of Juventus and Bayern Munich in the round of 16 means only the most naive would underestimate the team’s capabilities from a young age. . town of Castellon. Kick-off at Anfield is 8:00pm (BST), but stay tuned in the meantime for news and team preparations.
Reference-www.theguardian.com