Rarely will you find a manager with so little to complain about as Jurgen Klopp on Wednesday night against Villarreal.
His Liverpool team dominated the first leg of their Champions League semi-final from the first whistle to the very last, sealing a 2-0 victory of with minimal fuss.
After the match Klopp showed that satisfaction with his game-plan playing out to perfection, even if the margin was just two goals.
"We kept them quiet… It was important because of the counter-attacking threat they have."
"The boys were really in the game from the first until the last second."
Jürgen Klopp is delighted with his side's semi-final first leg display this evening 🔴
🎙 @TheDesKelly #UCL pic.twitter.com/4maRD27UcV
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) April 27, 2022
His opposite number Unai Emery was honest enough to admit that Villarreal showed little of what they wanted on the night, but like Klopp mentioned that things would be different in Spain.
Defender Pau Torres also showed a glimmer of defiance in the face of the Liverpool machine, but the fear will be for Villarreal fans is that it will be exactly the same. With Liverpool managing to completely stifle Villarreal’s counter-attack, as Klopp mentioned, it will need a Herculean effort from the Yellow Submarine to hurt Liverpool to the same degree in the second leg.
Groguets may well argue that those kinds of miracles have already been achieved twice before this season.
