And so Villarreal in the final four of the Europa League it is.
After an arresting 4-3 victory over tournament favourites Borussia Dortmund at Anfield, in one of continental football’s most unreal of nights, only the Spanish club stand between Liverpool and a superb opportunity to win silverware at St Jakob Park in Basel.
Jurgen Klopp, exactly a year on since announcing his decision to walk away from the Westfalenstadion following seven years of sizeable success as BVB coach, finds himself a step closer to authoring a triumphant new chapter with the Reds.
His men did the unthinkable, clawing back from 2-0 down within nine minutes under the floodlights on Thursday, to dump his former side out of Europe 5-4 on aggregate.
But after an emotional, fighting football display against Thomas Tuchel’s men, Liverpool will find a hugely different challenge in Villarreal.
Enjoying an impressive season in La Liga, they are difficult to break down with a stingy defence. In Cedric Bakambu, the El Madrigal outfit possess a robust, pacy attacking threat who is good with both feet and is the highest goalscorer left in the tournament, having struck nine times.
There is no special narrative around the tie to fuel Liverpool as in the previous rounds against Dortmund and Manchester United. It is a fixture that will chiefly require composure and discipline rather than the unabating fire that has helped them overcome two formidable opponents.
However, having toppled such accomplished opposition to reach the semis, nothing feels beyond Klopp’s side and Villarreal will be aware of that.
In the aftermath of the mesmerising scenes against Dortmund, which will long be inked on the mind, James Milner declared: “If we can beat them, we can beat anyone and hopefully we can now go on to win some silverware.
“To beat a team like Dortmund and to come back the way we did and going this far in a major competition is obviously massive. This will do a lot for us.”
Liverpool have not lost in the tournament this season and will be confident of reaching a 12th European final in their first-ever UEFA meeting with Villarreal, who haven’t contested a single showpiece.
Since the start of March, the Merseysiders have only faltered against Southampton when a second-half capitulation at St Mary’s saw them lose 3-2.
In that period, with the players more synced to Klopp’s demands and the manager having a near full-strength squad to choose from, they have scored 20 goals and ousted United, Manchester City, Crystal Palace, Stoke and Dortmund while also derailing Tottenham’s title tilt.
This is a Liverpool on the ascendancy, a team who are beginning to realise just what they are capable of under Klopp, who has stressed the importance of the Europa League from the opening weeks of his Anfield tenure.
As Divock Origi highlighted, the squad have the perfect springboard to “achieve great things.”
It’s now full steam ahead as Liverpool need to showcase another example of their renewed might against the Yellow Submarine.
source goal.com
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