On May 4, Beijing time, in the second leg of the Champions League semi-finals, Liverpool chased 3 goals in a row after 0-2, reversed Villarreal 3-2, and advanced to the final with a 5-2 aggregate score, waiting for the winner between Real Madrid and Manchester City.
In the first leg, Liverpool have already won 2-0 at home to take the lead. The last time they were reversed by their opponents with a two-goal advantage in hand was back in the 1965 Champions League semi-finals, when they lost 3-1 in the first leg and 3-0 in the second leg to Inter.
Liverpool have only been reversed in the first leg since the Champions League was restructured, and that was also the 2001-02 season, when it was 1-0 in the first leg and Bayer Leverkusen in the second leg 2-4.
However, away to the Ceramics Stadium, Liverpool played a very bad first half. In the opening 3 minutes, Estupina's cross from the left, Robertson did not keep an eye on Capué, let the latter send a knock back, Van Dijk lost Dia again, and the Senegalese forward pushed the empty goal to win, 0-1!
In the 41st minute, Capuère's left-footed cross from the right side of the penalty area was met by former Arsenal midfielder Coquilin who jumped high inside the penalty area and scored with a header that made it 0-1! 2-2 on aggregate! Villarreal equalised!
Throughout the first half, Liverpool's performance was very flustered, not only the back line was exploded by the opponent, the offensive end only had 2 shots on goal, there was no right shot, the possession rate and the opponent were the same, completely lost control of the scene.
At the beginning of the second half, Klopp replaced Jota with Dias. In the 56th minute, Arnold's right-footed shot hit the crossbar and he had bad luck. It wasn't until the 62nd minute that Liverpool finally returned: Fabinho, after teaming up with Salah, fired a powerful right-footed shot into the net from the right side of the penalty area, 1-2! 3-2 on aggregate!
In the 67th minute, Alexander-Arnold's left-footed cross from the right was met by Díaz's header, 2-2! 4-2 on aggregate! The game returned to the gap between the two goals.
In the 74th minute, Mane single-handedly passed Lully and pushed the empty goal to win, 3-2! 5-2 on aggregate! Completely lost in suspense.
In the end, Liverpool had a thrilling advance to the Champions League final! The data shows that first, this is the 10th time in their team history to reach the Champions League final, is the fourth team to reach double digits, behind real Madrid with 16 times, AC Milan and Bayern with 11 times.
Second, since 2018, Liverpool have reached the Champions League final three times in 5 years, with the most of all teams in the same period.
Third, 10 Champions League finals, equal to the sum of the other four Premier League giants: Manchester United 5 finalists, Chelsea 3, Manchester City 1 and Arsenal 1.
Fourth, Klopp is about to usher in the fourth Champions League final of his coaching career: Dort 1 time, Liverpool 3 times, and tie with Muñoz, Lippi, Ferguson and Ancelotti, tied for the most in history, but the previous 3 times, only won in 2019.
Fifth, Uncle Scum also became the German head coach who participated in the most Champions League finals, and among the managers who have participated in the Champions League finals four times, only he and Ancelotti are the two different teams led.
Next, Liverpool just need to wait for the winner between Manchester City and Real Madrid. And if they can win the final, it will be the seventh Champions League title in the history of the team, equaling AC Milan in one fell swoop and tied for the second most in the history of the Champions League, behind only Real Madrid with 13 titles.
In addition, Liverpool will also impact the unprecedented four crowns in English football! Of course, before this year's Champions League final, this season's FA Cup and Premier League champions will be decided, when they can win the treble first? The answer has been revealed.