Trailing 2-0 from the primary leg, Villarreal sparked hopes of a extremely good turnaround inside the go back at the Estadio de los angeles Ceramica after Boulaye Dia finished within the third minute and Francis Coquelin headed in some other to level the tie at 2-2. But Jurgen Klopp threw on Diaz for Diogo Jota on the c programming language to shake Liverpool into life and it labored, the traffic scoring 3 instances in 12 minutes to kill off Villarreal's revival and increase to their 1/3 Champions League final in 5 years.
Liverpool will watch for the winner of Real Madrid and Manchester City, who play their 2d leg at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday, with City leading four-3 from the opener remaining week. Either City or Madrid will offer a sterner take a look at than Villarreal, however after a chastening revel in at Anfield last week, Unai Emery's aspect delivered a lively performance that rattled Liverpool and confirmed why they knocked out both Juventus and Bayern Munich to reach the semi-finals.
Liverpool have been careless, perhaps complacent even, within the first half but sensational inside the 2d, locating an depth and tempo Villarreal were sincerely not able to fit. Diaz, who commenced at the bench however became crucial to the fightback, became first-rate again and may quickly be an automated starter for Klopp. A banner draped behind the Villarreal goal at one end study "ninety mins from our dream" at the same time as before kick-off the stadium announcer shouted "it is feasible, the comeback is possible!"
And if everyone inside the floor become still sceptical they were given an early injection of notion inside the third minute as Pervis Estupinan swung in a pass from the left to Etienne Capoue at the returned put up. Under strain from Andy Robertson, Capoue skewed his end horizontally, touchdown perfectly for the coming Dia to sidefoot in.
Liverpool every now and then threatened on the break, with Mohamed Salah rolling Estupinan down the left and feeding Jota in the middle however Geronimo Rulli was quick to hurry out and claw the ball away. But Liverpool lacked their common control and precision, with Alisson Becker booting the ball into contact earlier than Naby Keita's out of place pass lower back to his personal defence almost led to Giovani Lo Celso incomes a penalty.
The 2d goal got here four minutes earlier than half of-time as Pau Torres launched a long ball from deep for Capoue to run onto. Capoue's first touch cannoned away from him however he recovered, controlling and twisting faraway from Robertson earlier than putting up a high-quality go with his left foot to the again submit, in which Coquelin climbed above Trent Alexander-Arnold and headed in. The half-time whistle prompted huge cheers from the house fans, whose group were stage in the tie, and a alternate from Klopp as Diaz replaced Jota.
Liverpool gave the look of a team smarting from a scolding after the break. They were speeding now to take throw-ins, keen to find the intensity that they had formerly lacked. Alexander-Arnold's deflected shot from distance looped onto the crossbar. Diaz volleyed over at the back submit. And then Fabinho fired in, latching onto a Salah pass and capturing early thru the legs of Rulli, who regarded to have predicted the move.
This became a extra acquainted Liverpool, hitting a level Villarreal could not match, and 5 mins later they scored a second, restoring their two-intention benefit on mixture. Alexander-Arnold turned into given an excessive amount of space on the proper and floated a pass into the place wherein Diaz, off-balance, aimed an terrific header down and in.
Seven mins later, Liverpool brought the very last blow, as Rulli rushed out to shut down a released ball forward but didn't get there first. Mane sprinted clean and rolled into an open net before Capoue became despatched off, earning a second yellow card with six mins left.
