Villarreal, Liverpool  Battle For Champions League Final Spot

Babalola Seyi

As the second leg of the Champions League begins tonight with Villarreal facing Liverpool, the two teams will do anything to scale through to the final but the Reds have more advantage than the Spanish side.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has stated that his side will take nothing for granted despite their 2-0 lead at the An field stadium last Wednesday.

The Reds are taking the 2-0 advantage after last week’s comprehensive first-leg victory at Anfield to Spain to determine their faith for them to proceed to the Champions League final.

Despite holding a commanding advantage, Klopp is under no illusions there is still a job to be done and is relishing the challenge that only Champions League semi-finals produce.

“We know that it is half-time,” Klopp told his pre-match press conference. “In the best possible way we have to ignore the result from the first leg. If it were a cup game where only one game decided, and we had to go to Villarreal, we would try to win there.

“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.”

Nevertheless, Villareal manager, Unai Emery has  insisted that his team are not playing for pride but believe they can beat Liverpool and still reach the Champions League final, despite their 2-0 defeat in the first leg last week.

“In the first leg, they were better but tomorrow we are not just playing for pride, we are playing to win,” said Emery in a press conference.

“Liverpool this season have not lost a game by more than two goals so we will have to play a perfect match, to be outstanding in everything we do. We’ll have to find more of their weaknesses.”