Villarreal sent a message to Liverpool directly after the Reds’ win at El Madrigal tonight. The Reds are into the Champions League final.
Liverpool knocked Villarreal out of the UEFA Champions League tonight with a 3-2 win at El Madrigal. That puts the Reds into their third such final under Jurgen Klopp – but it wasn’t easy.
Villarreal made the Reds sweat for this, despite Liverpool going into it with a 2-0 lead. An early goal for the home side, however, made things nervy. A second before half-time made things scary and brought about change at half-time.
Klopp deserves credit for that. He brought on Luis Diaz and moved Sadio Mané centrally – both scored second-half goals as a result. Mohamed Salah played his part, too, as he setup Fabinho for the Reds’ first.
But the goals were just a side-effect of a magnificent second-half display. Liverpool controlled the game far, far better and pressured Villarreal as they had at Anfield. Half-time truly won the tie here.
Villarreal send message to Liverpool
So it’s heartbreak for Villarreal but they did send a message to Liverpool after the result. They wished the Reds luck after a hard-fought matchup.
“Villarreal CF would like to congratulate [Liverpool] for reaching the Champions League final,” they wrote on Twitter. “Good luck in the future Reds, you’re a fantastic team.”
It’s not actually the first nice message sent by Villarreal – they did the same after the result last week. Honestly, it’s difficult to say a single bad thing about that club after their Champions League campaign.
They’ve handled themselves remarkably well, of course, with wins over Juventus and Bayern Munich. They’ve then pushed Liverpool hard tonight, forcing Klopp to save the game.
So we wish them nothing but luck. They might not compete in the Champions League next season but there’s little doubt they’ll be back.