Liverpool 3-3 Benfica (6-4) (Konate 21′, Firmino 56′, 65′ | Ramos 32′, Yaremchuk 73′, Nunez 82′)
ANFIELD — Liverpool qualified for their third Champions League semi-final under Jurgen Klopp but this was a sobering rather than triumphant European night.
The tie had been won in the first leg in Lisbon but, if Anfield imagined that Villarreal’s defeat of Bayern Munich presented them with a clear route to the final in Paris, the ease with which a young, talented side broke through should give Liverpool pause for thought.
Benfica put the ball in the net five times – two were called offside – and under Unai Emery, Villarreal are a side that is adept at riding the punches and delivering a knockout blow. They overcame Bayern with practically two shots on target.
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For all the glitter of their name, Benfica’s natural home is the Europa League. They finance themselves by buying cheap and selling dear – Joao Felix, Ederson, David Luiz and Jan Oblak have all passed through Lisbon’s Stadium of Light and left memories and money behind them.
They had begun this Champions League season in the first week of August in the third qualifying round, playing Spartak Moscow. There was a play-off against PSV Eindhoven. Their reward was to be pitched into a group of death, whose most obvious killers were Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
They emerged to knock out the Ajax of Erik ten Hag. In the middle of all this they had promoted their reserve-team coach, Nelson Verissimo, to replace Jorge Jesus, whose second spell at the Stadium of Light had been nothing like his trophy-laden first.
Theirs had already been a remarkable and romantic journey but to recover from a 3-1 defeat in Lisbon required a script by Disney. Only one team had ever inflicted a three-goal defeat on Liverpool at Anfield during Klopp’s years on Merseyside and that was Manchester City. They had done it once.
Even against a Liverpool side that had made seven changes from the team that had just failed to inflict a decisive blow in Sunday’s “title decider”, everything had to fall perfectly for Benfica and in the 21st minute things fell very badly indeed. Ibrahima Konaté rose above two Premier League veterans in Nicolas Otamendi and Jan Vertonghen and steered his header home. Klopp double-punched the air. That, surely was that.
Certainty is, however, not a commodity that tends to linger long in football and within a couple of minutes Darwin Nunez, who had scored in the first leg, now sent a beautifully-caressed chip over Alisson Becker’s head and into the goal beneath the Kop. However, Verissimo’s air punch was interrupted by an offside flag.
There was a stoppage the second time a Benfica shot struck the net after Goncalo Ramos, standing unmarked in the area, had been given a sight of goal that the 20-year-old consummated emphatically. However, VAR ruled that the ball had come off James Milner’s boot.
Liverpool Player ratings
- Alisson – 6
- Gomez – 5
- Matip – 6
- Konate – 5
- Tsimikas – 7
- Henderson – 6
- Milner – 6
- Keita – 6
- Diaz – 8
- Firmino – 8
- Jota – 7
Subs:
- Salah – 6
- Fabinho – 6
- Thiago – 7
- Mane – 6
- Origi – 5
Liverpool were not quite themselves before the interval. Nevertheless, a long punt upfield saw Odisseas Vlachodimos on something of an odyssey that had taken the Greek goalkeeper midway into his own half with Roberto Firmino bearing down on him.
Firmino’s pass would have seen Diogo Jota with the goal at his mercy but for a wonderful sliding interception by Jan Vertonghen. Jota thrashed the air with his fist in frustration while the Belgian lay flat on his back.
The thousands that had come from Portugal and crammed the away section of the Anfield Road Stand knew their team was balanced on a tightrope and, 10 minutes after the restart, it gave way. Vlachodimos could only parry a shot, the ball was scooped back into the mix by Jota and Firmino finished things off for his first Champions League goal in two years.
His second was not long delayed. The Brazilian anticipated Tsmikas’s free-kick far better than a rigid Benfica wall. The ball skimmed the top of Otamendi’s head and Firmino tapped in. The Disney script required four goals in under half an hour.
As a requirement, it would have been beyond the Ajax of Cruyff or the Barcelona of Guardiola. A Benfica comprised of veterans and promising, soon-to-be sold young talent managed two and another, correctly given offside goal from Nunez.
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The legitimate goals were the result of breaking through a Liverpool high defensive line that looked flimsy and naïve. Roman Yaremchuk was played onside by Joe Gomez and finished impeccably. Yaremchuk is Ukrainian, who played for Dynamo Kyiv, while at Charlton Gomez was coached by Sergei Baltacha, a citizen of Mariupol, the Stalingrad of our times.
Then came another breakthrough and Nunez, once more, chipped Alisson. Once more the flag came up and once more VAR overruled the linesman. There was, however, too little time for Benfica. There will be plenty of time before the semi-final for Klopp to digest the lessons of this match.
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