A qualification acquired in madness. A week after their victory (3-1) in Portugal, Liverpool clinched their ticket to the semi-finals of the Champions League after a draw full of twists and turns against Benfica (3-3) at Anfield, Wednesday April 13. Ibrahima Konate, already a scorer in the first leg, and Roberto Firmino thanks to a brace, thought they had put the Reds in orbit. But the Portuguese never gave up, finding the resources to return to 1-1 thanks to the first goal in the Champions League from Gonçalo Ramos (32nd) then to 3-3 on two goals from Roman Yaremchuk (73rd) and Darwin Nunez ( 82nd). Not enough to reverse the situation. Liverpool invites itself into the last four to find Villarreal, who beat Bayern Munich on Tuesday.
GET IN #UCL pic.twitter.com/s3nejRR4cA
—Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 13, 2022
With a revamped eleven, Liverpool were rocked by the Portuguese who gave it their all. At kickoff, the bench of the Reds indeed almost looked like a typical team. Without Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mané, Virgil van Dijk, Alexander Trent-Arnold, or even Fabinho, Jürgen Klopp gave the keys to his luxury replacements, who were keen to shine, like Konstantinos Tsimikas.
The Greek was very active offensively, in a left lane usually occupied by Robertson, with two assists on the clock. First by serving on a corner Ibrahima Konate, transformed into a serial scorer to open the scoring as in the first leg (21st). Then by depositing on a free kick a perfect ball pushed into the back of the net for the second goal of Roberto Firmino (65th). The Brazilian, who perfectly fulfilled his role as “supersub”, had allowed his side to regain the advantage ten minutes earlier.
But the Reds also had to deal with an experimental defensive base, too easily overwhelmed by Lisbon attacks. In the wake of the opener, Darwin Nunez saw his equalizer on a millimeter lob be canceled for offside (22nd). On an error by James Milner, Gonçalo Ramos recovered the ball and adjusted Alisson to return to 1-1 (32nd). If the pressure on the feverish English back line eased somewhat after Firmino’s double, the Portuguese had the merit of not letting go, scoring two goals in the last twenty minutes, on a strike from Yaremchuk (73rd) and a magnificent technical gesture from Nunez (82nd). Benfica leaves the European scene through the front door.