Sadio Mane got on the scoresheet as Liverpool beat Unai Emery’s Villarreal 2-0 at Anfield in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.
An own goal from Pervis Estupinan and Mane’s 20th of the season did the damage at Anfield.
This was a comfortable night for Liverpool as they were much the better side against Villarreal.
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Under Unai Emery the visitors had lost just one of 12 away games in Europe, in stoppage time at Old Trafford last September, and had beaten Juventus and Bayern Munich to reach their first Champions League semi-final since 2006.
Villarreal were perceived as presenting an easy option – by virtue of them not being Manchester City or Real Madrid – and Liverpool’s dominance from the off suggested that would play out with LaLiga’s seventh-placed team failing to register a shot on target in the game.
A big first-leg performance from the Reds 💪#UCL | #LIVVIL pic.twitter.com/jLEMjlQxDr
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 27, 2022
Even a goalless opening 45 minutes which set a new competition record for first-half shots without scoring in a semi-final was more down to the hosts’ inability to find the net than their opponent’s powers of resistance.
The dozen attempts they made surpassed any other team since the data was first collected in 2003-4, with the closest they came being Thiago Alcantara’s 25-yard effort off the post.
Mane, whose combination with Mohamed Salah looked back to its best, had three efforts, Salah himself had a couple while Luis Diaz cut in from the left to blast a right-footed effort at Geronimo Rulli who unconvincingly claimed at the second attempt.
The movement of Liverpool was incessant and multi-faceted with Diaz tracking up and down the left wing but also dropping inside, Jordan Henderson often playing on the shoulder of the last line of defence and Trent Alexander-Arnold popping up in the number 10 position to…
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