Liverpool are favorites against Villareal but Klopp has warned that they will not underestimate their rival. Photo: REUTERS/Peter Powell.
Liverpool are hosting Villarreal in the first leg of the second semi-final of the Champions League to keep alive their search for historic poker this season.
The match will be played at Anfield stadium with Polish arbitration Szymon Marciniakto be assisted by his compatriot Tomasz Kwiatkowski in the VAR.
It is impossible for the semi-final of the Champions League to be simple, “warned Liverpool German manager Juergen Klopp.
After beating the final to Real Madrid in the 2017-18 edition, the German coach guided the “Reds” in the 2018-19 season to their sixth and, so far, the final title “Orejona”, a tournament in which Villarreal’s DT Unai Emery will only play their second semi-final.
The “Yellow Submarine”, which fell to Arsenal in the semifinals of the “Champions” of the 2005-06 edition, is in seventh place in the League that will soon be won by Real Madrid, Manchester City’s rival in the other key for a ticket to the final on Saturday May 28 in Paris.
“I already had respect for Emery and his team, but after a careful review of Villarreal, I said ‘Wow!’ He is a manager obsessed with detail, his team can react to any kind of result, ”Klopp praised his Spanish teammate. “He has a plan if he’s up 1-0 or if he’s behind.
He is a world-class coach who has done an incredible job, “Klopp added of Villarreal, who have been eliminated by Juventus and Bayern Munich.
“Juventus and Bayern Munich may be underestimating him, but to us it won’t happen. Obviously they want to reach the final, but so do we. There are chances we will suffer, I know. We shouldn’t be nervous, but we know how to do it “that they are struggling. We will work hard to get the result and we will fight against Villarreal”, Klopp guaranteed.
Liverpool, this season’s English League Cup champions, have escorted Manchester City to the Premier League and are struggling to beat Villarreal to reach the “Champions” final, as this will also be the case in the FA Cup where Chelsea will in its eagerness to seal a historic poker.
“Every team that is in the semi-finals of the Champions League is there because they deserve it. Liverpool know we have a great presence in Europe, that we have been able to eliminate two great teams like Juventus and Bayern Munich. Now the effect of the surprise will fade, against Liverpool it will be even harder ”, Emery hopes.
The Spanish coach guided Villarreal to the “Champions” after winning the 2020-21 edition of the Europa League, a tournament that Emery has won three times with Sevilla (2015-16 against Klopp’s Liverpool) and the last he lost to Arsenal command.
“The Reds know it’s not easy to deal with us, they’ll obviously feel like favorites but they’ll respect us. This is the best Liverpool I’ve ever seen. I see it as an added motivation, trying to beat the best Liverpool in history,” he stressed. by Emery.
The former Paris Saint-Germain coach also, among others, said Villarreal would require “concentration on every aspect of the game” because, he said, “we are playing against the favorite to win the title.”
“But we want to be protagonists. It won’t be a discounted success, our rivals might be superior, but we have our recognizable game identity and our weapons to be able to compete. I live this semifinal very naturally,” Emery concluded.
possible formations
Liverpool: Allison; Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil Van Dijk, Andrew Robertson; Naby Keita, Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara; Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Luis Diaz. DT: Jurgen Klopp.
Villarreal: Geronimo Rulli; Juan Foyth, Raúl Albiol, Pau Torres, Pervis Estupiñán; Daniel Parejo, Etienne Capoue, Francis Coquelin; Paco Alcácer, Arnaut Danjuma, Giovani Lo Celso. DT: Unai Emery.
With information from ANSA
Source: Clarin
