Villarreal vs Liverpool. Prediction and Preview. Probable Lineups, Team News, Stats and more
Villarreal will host Liverpool at La Ceramica in the UEFA Champions League semi-final, second leg. The match will take place on May 4, beginning at 00:30 IST.
Jurgen Klopp and Unai Emery will meet again just a week after the first leg. A 2-0 victory at Anfield guaranteed Liverpool peace of mind ahead of the second leg of the battle for the Champions League final. Villarreal will be aggressive and dangerous at home, but can they put up a serious fight against perhaps the best team in the world at the moment?
Parimatchnews will tell you everything you need to know ahead of the upcoming match.
Villarreal News & Current Form:
The first leg against Liverpool was arguably Villarreal’s worst in the current Champions League сampaign. The Spanish team’s plan failed completely.
Villarreal ‘trenched’ close to their own penalty area from the very first minutes, showing from the start that they would do everything in their power to maintain a nil scoreline. Ultimately, it resulted in a 0-2 defeat.
Apparently, Emery tried to repeat his away pattern of play, which brought Villarreal success against Juventus and Bayern. But Liverpool quickly showed that it is not the way to play against them.
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And such a scoreline does not reflect the ugliness of the game, which Unai Emery’s side showed that evening. Liverpool possessed the ball 71% of the time and literally did not let their opponents out of their half. The Merseysiders had 20 shots on target against Gerónimo Rulli and allowed the visitors only one worthwhile attack. One shot (and that one past the goal) in 90 minutes is certainly a failure.
After the defeat, Unai Emery was not discouraged and had some bravura:
“We have to accept what happened and be optimistic for the next match. We can cause problems,”
he said at the press conference.
The specialist did not specify what he meant by the phrase “to cause problems” – not letting Liverpool win the second match or planning to fight for the final. Either way, his words must be taken seriously.
Emery has made a name for himself thanks to his amazing tenacity and productivity in European competitions. The Spaniard has won the Europa League four times since 2014 – three with Sevilla and last year with Villarreal.
In the Champions League, he reached the semi-finals for the first time in his career. It is not easy to explain the Yellow Submarine’s phenomenon in the main European competition. One of the reasons is jokingly cited as an innovation by Unai – supposedly before matches he plays the Europa League anthem in the dressing room and thereby boosts the morale of the players.
Before the return leg against Liverpool, Emery will have to play this composition on repeat. In Unai’s winning seasons, his teams have managed to come back only twice after losing in the first legs. Sevilla did so both times in the 2013/14 campaign. The Red and Whites made it through in the 1/8 after going down 0-2 to Betis, and in the 1/4 after going down 0-1 to Porto. Eight years have passed since then.
What’s more, after a disappointing performance, Villarreal took part in round 34 of the Spanish championship, in which they lost 1-2 to one of the weakest La Liga sides, Alaves. It would appear that the Yellow Submarine’s heroics in the current Champions League draw are about to end. Although this defeat probably should not be taken seriously. It is clear that the team were saving their energy for the return leg against Liverpool. All the stakes are now on the return leg of UCL.
Liverpool News & Current Form:
Liverpool were magnificent against Villarreal at Anfield. The only thing that perhaps disappointed Jurgen Klopp’s team was the scoreline. 2-0 wasn’t bad either, but the Spaniards should have conceded a lot more. The Submarine was just simply being ‘torpedoed’ the whole game..
The victory over Villarreal was further confirmation that a concentrated Liverpool is almost impossible to beat.
Perhaps Emery was relying on Liverpool’s home games against Inter and Benfica as the Reds lost the in the first case and drew in the second respectively. But at that points, everything was almost decided, Liverpool spent exactly as much energy in the return matches against the Italians and the Portuguese as was enough to qualify for the next round. Such pragmatism allows the Merseysiders to chase the quadruple this year.
The return leg will also follow Jurgen Klopp’s script, no matter what Unai Emery has in store for him. Villarreal need to get a grip on the game and attack furiously, but therein lies the main danger. Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz are very good on the counter-attack. Stopping them will be unreal.
Liverpool are looking forward to their third Champions League final in five years. It seems the Reds are the new hegemon of the tournament.
Villarreal season form guide (all competitions): D-D-W-W-L-L
Liverpool season form guide (all competitions): D-W-W-W-W-W
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Villarreal vs Liverpool Head-To-Head Record:
| Villarreal | Draw | Liverpool |
| 1 | 0 | 2 |
Villarreal vs Liverpool Predicted XI:
Villarreal Predicted XI (4-3-3): Geronimo Rulli; Pau Torres, Raul Albiol, Juan Foyth, Pervis Estupinan; Dani Parejo, Etienne Capuoe, Manu Trigueros; Samuel Chukwueze, Giovani Lo Celso, Arnaut Danjuma.
Liverpool Predicted XI (4-3-3): Alisson Becker; Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andrew Robertson; Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara, Jordan Henderson; Luis Diaz, Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah.
Statistical preview of the match Villarreal vs Liverpool:
- Liverpool’s unbeaten streak stands at 12 games (ten wins and two draws). The Merseysiders have conceded only eight goals in that stretch.
- Liverpool have conceded two or more goals in only four of their 28 games in 2022.
- The Reds failed to score in only one game in the whole season, against Inter in the return leg of the Champions League (0-1).
- Seven of Liverpool’s nine away matches in the Champions League have ended in victories for the English club.
- Liverpool have scored at least 2 goals in 6 of the last 8 away meetings.
What has been said before the match:
“We know they will give all they have, that is absolutely clear. With all the things Unai said after the game… it’s going to be a tough one but that is completely fine. Champions League semi-finals should be tough; we never expect them to be easy and this will not be easy. But we played a good game at home and we better play a good game there as well.”
“At this moment, a Champions League semi-final is the most important game you can play. Whatever happened in the last few weeks or will happen in the next few weeks is not important, for this moment is clear.”
“You never know if you will reach a semi-final again or if we will ever have the chance again to go to the final, you never know. We have an exceptional team here and nothing is for granted. You need luck in moments and all these sorts of things, so you better treat it carefully and be ready, and we will be ready.”
“Everything what we are will be required tomorrow night, that’s it. We have to be ready to play a top, top game because they will go for us. They will high press, they will try to play much more football than we allowed them in the first game. Unai will for sure try to adapt a few things to our style. It will be really interesting. Maturity will be important but it’s not the only thing.”
“It is a difficult task but we are working on the game. We need to play a perfect game. We need to find our excellence in certain things and maybe achieve something no one has achieved, which is this kind of comeback. We will try to find some weak spots, something that no one has done this season.”
Unai at the press-conference
Villarreal vs Liverpool Prediction:
The defeat in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final appears to be a real disappointment for Villarreal. The club had wasted so much energy in the previous stages that they now lost even to modest Alaves in La Liga. Liverpool, on the other hand, continue their winning streak, delighting fans with their performance. Jurgen Klopp has manage to erased the boundaries between the first team and the reserves, well integrated them into the system, which is why all his charges are in terrific form and display the highest level of football with great chemistry – they surely aim to get 4 trophies this season and will again secure the victory against desperate Submarines.
Unai Emery might surely create some troubles, but Liverpool are too good even for such tough teams. The only difference will be how much energy Klopp will want to save before the game against Spurs at the weekend. And the latter, by the way, are excellent at playing with the top sides (remember the match against Man City).
Parimatch News staff prediction:
We say: Liverpool to win and individual total over 1.5 – Yes.