Liverpool, Man City Cruise into UEFA Champions League Semi-finals
Liverpool, Man City Cruise into UEFA Champions League Semi-finals
Roberto Firmino scored twice as Liverpool drew 3-3 with Benfica on Wednesday night to advance to the Champions League semifinals with a 6-4 aggregate.
Manchester City is also through to the semi-finals of the Champions League, having held Atletico Madrid to a goalless draw at the Wanda Metropolitano.
Liverpool, Man City Cruise into UEFA Champions League Semi-finals
Having come into the game with a 1-0 deficit from the first leg at the Etihad, Atleti knew they couldn’t simply sit deep and look to hurt their opponents on the counter as they did against Manchester United at Old Trafford last month. They came flying out of the blocks, pressing hard and threatening to score when Joao Felix got behind on the right and was inches away from finding Thomas Lemar as he charged into the area.
With a hostile home crowd whistling City’s every touch, Atleti produced a series of fiesty challenges which culminated with Felipe leaving Phil Foden crumpled on the turf after a brutal aerial duel. He was lucky to avoid a booking – his stray elbow left Foden bleeding from the head and bandaged up for the rest of the game – with City’s anger only compounded when he was cautioned not long afterwards for smashing into the back of Kevin De Bruyne.
Liverpool side ame into the home match with a decided advantage after beating Benfica 3-1 in the first leg in Lisbon, and effectively killed off the tie when Ibrahima Konate nodded home a corner from Konstantinos Tsimikas in the 21st minute.
Diogo Jota set up Firmino for a close-range finish in the 55th minute and the Brazil international added another soon after from a Tsimikas assist as Liverpool booked passage to the UCL final four in style.
Klopp’s side will now face Villareal, who shocked Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals on Tuesday, in the first leg of their semifinal matchup at Anfield on April 27.
Keep a date with us as we look forward to a wonderful week of entertaining matches, Send your comments here, share and like our page, We will like to hear from you.
