Luis Díaz and Liverpool are 90 minutes away from reaching the Champions League final and to maintain the option of winning the four titles they have in dispute this season.
They have already secured the League Cup, they are not losing out on Manchester City in the Premier League and they are already in the last instance of the FA Cup, in which they will play for the crown against Chelsea.
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Today, at the La Cerámica stadium, they will face a Villarreal team that has surprised throughout the Champions League, but who return home in a very compromised situation, after losing 2-0 in the first leg.
Klopp’s word
Despite arriving with a good lead, the Liverpool manager, the German Jürgen Klopp, is not confident and demands maximum concentration.
“It’s a semi-final and it should be difficult. We never expected it to be easy. We played a good game at home and now we need to do it away too. You never know if we will have another chance in a semi-final,” Klopp said.
“We got to the tie in good shape, but we know that if we start off on the wrong foot tomorrow (Tuesday) everything can get complicated. We don’t have to think about the past, we have to be prepared to suffer and pay attention to each move. We have to go out to press and know how to suffer. React if the time comes to do so, ”added the German coach.
Diaz has had good nights of football with Liverpool in the Champions League, so he has not always started playing as a starter. He was in all five of the club’s games in the knockout bracket.
He was a substitute in the two games against Inter, in the round of 16, when he barely arrived at the club, but then they always had him in the list of 11. He has even scored a goal in this competition with his new shirt, against an opponent he knew very well, Benfica, in the quarterfinals.
Diaz, the key
The peasant, little by little, grasps Klopp’s idea of the game more and more. They have already taken him out of the left wing, the area he knows best, to play in the center and even on the right.
The absence of Roberto Firmino, due to injury, has also helped Díaz to have continuity. The Brazilian is not yet available.
“A little pull here in the midfoot bone, so every step is very painful. But he raced today (yesterday) again, he will ride with us, but he won’t be involved in the team yet. But we hope it will be sooner rather than later,” Klopp said.
For its part, Unai Emery, Villarreal coach, seeks to take the club to the Champions League final for the first time, a year after being crowned champion of the Europa League.
“We are very excited. We are going to play a Champions League semi-final. We played 90 minutes against the favourite... in their stadium they fairly beat us. But we were able to defend well and we are focused on playing our game, looking for our options, facing them and winning the duels”, explained Emery.
Although Villarreal’s campaign in the Champions League has not been good (see chart), their manager believes that being in their stadium is a strength.
“First, we play at La Cerámica, we will be with our fans; second, we have to win; and third, we have to defend. The defensive game must be brutal. And from there, being able to find what we didn’t find there, our game, he pointed out.
Liverpool already knows what it means to win the Champions League. Many times, epically. Now, Luis Díaz wants to go one step further to live that feeling.
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