Liverpool 2 Villarreal 0
90 minutes from a European Cup Final as the Reds break down the Yellow Submarines Yellow Brick Wall.
90 minutes from a European Cup Final as the Reds break down the Yellow Submarines Yellow Brick Wall.
The pattern was set from the Referee’s very first whistle last evening. The Red shirted hosts of Liverpool simply pressed and harried and pushed and strangled the beautifully affectionately known “Yellow Submarines” of Villarreal until when, mid-way through a goalless first half at Anfield, the Reds defensive line was 15–20 yards inside the Spanish team’s own half. Known for condensing and pressing a game to a third of it’s normal pitch size, tonight Liverpool had complete and utter control of a game, and all inside a 40–50 yard small sided pitch.
Watching the game live I found this particular aspect faintly ridiculous. All 22 players were inside roughly just a single third of the pitch!. Although utterly dominant, Villarreal were therefore in their defensive wall with all 11 yellow shirts behind both the ball and a yellow defensive wall of their own creation, and incredibly dogged, spirited and pugnacious in defending their own goal from being breached. And at all costs.
The important half-time statistic as far as the visitors from Spain were concerned was the 0–0 score line. With barely an attacking touch in the Liverpool half of the field, Villarreal were depending upon two players in particular last evening, their Skipper Raul Albiol and the talented attacking midfielder Giovani Lo Celso. Despite the full-time score line, both players excelled this evening with Albiol central to the stubborn defensive line and Lo Celso their only real attacking threat. The starkest statistic at the half-time break was the thirteen (13) shots the Reds rained down on Villarreal’s rather eccentric goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli and the zero (0) shots that Liverpool’s goalkeeper Alisson Becker had to deal with. Across the entire 90 minutes, Becker barely had to get his goalkeeping gloves dirty and seemed to play the entire game solely as a sweeper as there was no need whatsoever for his world beating goalkeeping skills. But that’s getting ahead of ourselves.
It took the Reds of Liverpool a quarter of an hour to finally click into an attacking gear but by this point Villarreal were already set and perfectly happy to take a 0–0 draw back to their famed El Madrigal home. The game was instantly and eerily reminiscent of the Merseyside Derby with near neighbours Everton just 4 days ago. Now for the “Toffees” of Everton read the “Yellow Submarines” of Villarreal: stubborn, defensive, resilient, organised and obdurate. Unfortunately, they were also time wasting, killing time and taking every opportunity to stop/start the game from the very blast of the Referee’s whistle. Eventual second half goal scorer Sadio Mane had the game’s first chance after a brilliant interchange with his strike partner Mo Salah. Mane started the move with a sublime pass with the outside of his boot before continuing his run into the Villarreal penalty area. Salah’s cross was slightly behind him and his tame header well wide, but the Reds had taken roughly 15 minutes to click into some form of attacking zest and a dozen further attempts would rain down on Geronimo Rulli’s Villarreal goal in the subsequent 30 minutes until half-time, but all to no avail.
The first half was dominated by the mercurial Luis Diaz. Just 2 minutes after Mane’s chance, a fantastic team move that swept the entire length of the field, from Becker in goal to a “Man of the Match” performing Fabinho onto the man who pushed him hard for last evening’s honour Andy Robertson, before Diaz sent a stinging shot from distance that eccentric goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli could only beat away to safety. 13 first half chances in total grabbed the attention of Villarreal’s Argentinian goalkeeper and another star performance from Thiago Alcantara saw him at the centre of so many. Mo Salah blazed 2 chances high and wide. Another exhilarating team move on the half hour saw another hard shot from distance from Luis Diaz beaten away again, before 2 minutes later being involved with Sadio Mane who saw his shot deflected off Villarreal Captain Raul Albiol for yet another corner. The corner count was mounting, as was the pressure and along with the command of the game being exerted from Virgil van Dijk through Fabinho in midfield and into the striking trio pestering the Spanish team’s defence. The first half was defined further by both Jordan Henderson and Thiago Alcantara hitting the frame of the Villarreal goal, with Thiago’s thunderbolt on 42 minutes crashing into the post with Geronimo Rulli clearly beaten. A few inches inside the post would have secured a deserved goal for Thiago that would’ve topped off yet another impressive first half display from the Spaniard. His cross field pass to Henderson (when the Liverpool Captain hit the post) was otherworldly, sublime and so typically beautifully Thiago!
Despite the one sided nature of the spectacle, Villarreal would’ve been ecstatic at the 0–0 half-time score line and the pattern of the first half soon resumed after the break. Liverpool’s 7th or 8th corner of the game saw a deserved goal for Fabinho ruled out for offside (Virgil van Dijk the offender), but the pressure was building and Villarreal were unable to escape their own half of the field. 2 minutes after Fabinho’s goal was ruled out, the Reds gained a little piece of European Cup luck.
GOAL! Liverpool 1 Villarreal 0 (Pervis Estupinan Own Goal 53 minutes).
Despite the unfortunate own goal labelled to Villarreal’s Ecuadorian defender, this was a Liverpool team goal in every sense and driven by their cruelly underrated Captain, Jordan Henderson. The ball was cycled across the width of the pitch from first Andy Robertson and then a sublime Thiago Alcantara pass to Sadio Mane who instantly fed his Captain Henderson on the right wing. His marauding run ended with a cross that flicked off the Argentinian defender and arched over the despairing grasping hands of his countryman Geronimo Rulli in the Spanish team’s goal. It was more than a little fortunate, but it was also more than a little deserved.
And Anfield erupted!
2 minutes, 11 seconds later:
GOAL! Liverpool 2 Villarreal 0 (Sadio Mane 55 minutes).
Before the intricate interplay and exchanging of passes between Trent Alexander-Arnold and goal scorer Sadio Mane, please don’t discount the incessant pressure, pressing and counter pressing, and the team play that led up to the seemingly straight forward goal from Mane.
I noted 2 further chances of real interest: Andy Robertson’s calm volleyed goal from another of those sublime passes from his wing back brother in arms Trent Alexander-Arnold that was ruled out again for offside and the stinging shot from long range from Virgil van Dijk that yet again forced Villarreal goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli into some eccentric action, but here’s the rub. With fully 20 minutes to go, and in a European Cup semi-final first leg, the Spanish team were perfectly happy with a 2–0 defeat and taking their chances in reversing this score line at El Madrigal in 6 nights time.
But here’s the biggest rub of them all:
With fully 20 minutes remaining, Anfield was at a whispered silence and not a heaving cauldron of sporting humanity. Sure the songs of praise were song, but their Red shirted heroes were as comfortable and at ease with life as their laid back central defender Virgil van Dijk. In essence, they played “keep ball” for the final 20 minutes of a first leg of a semi-final of the most prestigious and most important European club competition of them all. 2–0 up, cruising and in complete and utter control. Simple statements such as these should not be easily discounted.
This is a sport transcending team at times.
Could or should Liverpool have pressed for a third (or more) killer goals? Perhaps. Will they come to rue the fact they didn’t add a third goal in six days time in the expected white heat of a return leg with the yellow submarines?
Perhaps.
Time will tell.
It always does.
The Reds are 90 minutes away from a date in Paris for the European Cup Final, and 41 years after their triumph over the Los Blancos of Real Madrid in that very city of love. If the Spanish team overcome their one goal deficit to Manchester City it could well be a repeat as well as a repeat of their ill tempered and ill fated defeat to Real Madrid in the 2018 Final. Time will tell.
What is faintly ridiculously apparent is that Liverpool are 90 minutes away from ensuring they will fulfil every single possible fixture in this most extraordinary of footballing seasons.
“The Unbearables” might be on the precipice of being labelled all manner of things come the end of May, and forever more perhaps.
Thanks for reading. There’s a wealth of articles on Liverpool FC within my archives, childhood scrapbook memories, articles on my European trips following the Reds as well as a variety of match reports old and new, but written during this beautiful season. Here are links to the the 3 most recently published articles:
Liverpool 2 Everton 0
Divock Origi to the rescue as the Reds continue to relentlessly chase Manchester City for the League Titlemedium.com
7 European trips following the Mighty Reds of Liverpool
Volume 7: FC Basel, Champions League Group Stage, 2002/03. 10th to 15th November, 2002.medium.com
Liverpool 4 Manchester United 0
Yet another perfect half of football and the Reds are back on top of the most important perch of all.medium.com