“We had to show our true face, and we did it”, reacts Ibrahima Konaté after the difficult victory of the Reds

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Two games in one. The Reds showed totally different faces against Villarreal in the Champions League semi-final second leg on Tuesday 3 May. Led 2-0 at the break, they managed to completely reverse the trend when they returned from the locker room and scored three goals in the space of 12 minutes.

“We had a bad start to the match. We came across a Villarreal team who knew how to put the ingredients together to annoy us”, reacted Ibrahima Konaté to the microphone of Canal + at the end of the match. “We knew we weren’t the real Liverpool.”

For his part, Jürgen Klopp wanted to salute the very good performance of the Spaniards: “They were on fire. They have been amazing. They got the start they wanted, we didn’t. They took a lot of risks, whereas we didn’t fight. We just sent long balls forward.”, analyzed the coach of the Reds.

But what happened for Liverpool to return to their usual level of play when they returned from the locker room? “We helped each other at the break and we spoke with the coach. We knew we had to show our true colors. And that’s what we did”has followed Ibrahima Konate.

“It was easy for us to improve after the break. We felt the pressure. We started to play well. We were very good and we deserved to win”welcomed Klopp.

Villarreal players also largely felt the difference in level of their opponents between the first and second half. “We could see that the pressing was not the same. They were able to take advantage of our shortcomings and were effective”acknowledged in turn Francis Coquelin.

For Jürgen Klopp, it’s now about winning the trophy, a “great dream” : “To be in the final of this competition, the biggest competition in football, is something incredible”. The German coach will play his fourth Champions League final on May 28 at the Stade de France. He thus equals the record of Marcello Lippi, Alex Ferguson and Carlo Ancelotti.


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