Villarreal’s Étienne Capoue describes his ‘hell’ of facing Liverpool at Anfield, as he will do once again tomorrow evening. The Champions League semi-final will be an intense one.
Liverpool host Villarreal in the UEFA Champions League tomorrow night. It wasn’t exactly the semi-final they saw coming, however. Unai Emery’s team beat Juventus and Bayern Munich to get here, though, and that promises the Reds a difficult game.
But Jurgen Klopp has a tough task here. Not only do Liverpool need to see off Villarreal but they’ve got to compete in every Premier League game, too, as they attempt to win the title. It means setting a high benchmark in the game tomorrow is vital – win comfortably and it makes the second leg far easier to manage.
Thus Liverpool will come out with intensity – you can guarantee it – and that will worry at least one Villarreal star. Étienne Capoue knows as well as anyone that Anfield is an intimidating place to play when the Reds are flying.
“Anfield is hell, you have to say it how it is. It’s hell,” Capoue told Yahoo Sports. “It’s the worst stadium I’ve been to in England.
“Whether it’s the atmosphere, the way they play… For 90 minutes, you live in hell. They have this ability to transcend themselves, to cause you nothing but problems, all the time, in any part of the field.
“They never stop, they rush you all the time, they only want to score goals, and even when they score, they carry on. They want to knock you out.
“They don’t care what or who is in front of them. They just want to kill everyone and that’s it.”
Liverpool vs Villarreal
Capoue played at Anfield four times while with Watford and conceded 18 goals. That hardly seems possible but it happened – the Hertfordshire side scored just once across those games with Liverpool. 6-1, 5-0, 5-0 and 2-0.
And so Capoue is fully aware of what happens if you can’t match Liverpool’s intensity. Games turn into a rout, just as it did against Manchester United last week, in fact.
Perhaps that’s what Villarreal need for this one, though. They’ve got a player who is very, very aware of playing in ‘hell’ at Anfield and can help prepare them for what’s coming. We certainly won’t predict a five-goal win tomorrow evening but we all know the potential is there for something dominant.
Capoue certainly does.