Liverpool sealed a 2-0 victory over LaLiga side Villarreal in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals.
An own goal from Pervis Estupinan and a poacher’s finish from Sadio Mane guided Jurgen Klopp’s side to the win at Anfield.
Here, Sportsmail assesses how both sets of players got on in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals…
Liverpool sealed a 2-0 win over Villarreal in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals
Sadio Mane (pictured) scored the Reds second goal in the 55th minute in the tie at Anfield
LIVERPOOL
Allison Becker – 6
The Brazilian goalkeeper had an extremely quiet evening with very little to do across the entire match.
Trent Alexander-Arnold – 8
Bombed forward, put in multiple dangerous crosses, that were not capitalised on by the Reds attackers.
Trent Alexander-Arnold provided dangerous crosses throughout the first leg of the semi-finals
Ibrahima Konate – 7
A surprise inclusion over Joel Matip, but proved his selection with his aerial presence and power.
Virgil Van Dijk – 7
The star Dutch defender and most of the Reds defence were troubled by very little with the visitors sitting deep in their own half.
Andrew Robertson – 7
Similar to Alexander-Arnold, got forward, and worked his socks off in both directions for the Reds.
Fabinho – 7
Solid as always, even had a goal ruled out for offside early in the second-half, and helped control the midfield.
Jordan Henderson – 7
Hard working display rewarded and his shot took a huge deflection off Pervis Estupinan to open the scoring in the 53rd minute
Jordan Henderson’s shot took a huge deflection off Pervis Estupinan to make it 1-0 to the Reds
Thiago – 8
Controlled the midfield, made brilliant passes, and almost scored a stunning strike from distance in the 41st minute. He opened space and was untouchable in possession.
Thiago (pictured) controlled the midfield, opened space, and looked untouchable on the ball
Luis Diaz – 7
Played with energy, had a good effort early on, and caused Foyth plenty of issues down the left flank.
Mohamed Salah – 7
Created plenty and had chances of his own, but didn’t quite produce the magic that we now expect from Salah.
Sadio Mane – 8
Missed a few chances early on in the tie, but poked the second home for the Reds to continue his rich vein of form.
Sadio Mane poked home Liverpool’s second goal in the 55th minute of the first leg
Subs:
Diogo Jota (for Mane 72) – 6
Naby Keita (for Henderson 72) – 6
Joe Gomez (for Alexander-Arnold 81) – 6
Divock Origi (for Diaz 81) – 6
Unused subs: Adrian, Kelleher, Milner, Keita, Gomez, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Minamino, Jota, Origi, Matip, Williams, Elliott.
Manager: Jurgen Klopp – 7
Spot on from the German. Liverpool struggled to break down Villarreal despite a dominant first-half, but they found a way through the defensive tactics after the half-time team talk.
VILLARREAL
Gero Rulli – 6
Vital saves in the first-half, came out to clear danger, and kept his side in the contest at times.
Juan Foyth – 6
Made a brilliant challenge to stop Diaz getting in behind in the first-half and managed to keep the lively Colombian fairly quiet.
Juan Foyth (left) managed to keep a lively Luis Diaz (right) reasonably quiet at Anfield
Raul Albiol – 6
The experienced defender led by example, won plenty in the air, and tried to prevent Liverpool’s attack but didn’t the dominance eventually broke him down.
Pau Torres – 5
Started brightly, but was caught out by the brilliant Reds attack.
Pervis Estupinan – 5
Struggled to contain Salah and was caught out on a few occasions. He eventually deflected Henderson’s cross into the net, scoring an own goal.
Dani Parejo – 5
Smooth and composed as always, but didn’t get on the ball enough to make the game his own or even create much of anything.
Villarreal midfielder Francis Coquelin gave away the ball too often and was overrun in midfield
Francis Coquelin – 5
Gave the ball away too often and was overrun in midfield alongside Capoue and Parejo.
Etienne Capoue – 5
Overrun in midfield along with Coquelin, couldn’t deal with the combination of Henderson, Thiago and Fabinho in the middle of the park.
Giovanni Lo Celso – 6.5
The midfielder worked hard, blocked shots and made well timed challenges, but had very little reward.
Giovanni Lo Celso (right) worked hard, blocked shots and made vital challenges in the tie
Samuel Chukwueze – 5
Didn’t do much and was replaced by Dia as they looked to get back into the contest after going 2-0 down.
Armaut Danjuma – 5
You have to feel sorry for the former Bournemouth attacker as he didn’t get the service that he needed to help cause an upset.
Subs:
Pedraza (for Coquelin 57) – 5
Trigueros (for Estupinan 72) – 5
Serge Aurier (for Parejo 72) – 5
Dia (for Chukwueze 72) – 5
Unused subs: Asenjo, Jorgensen, Gaspar, Alcacer, Iborra, Trigueros, Dia, Pena, Mandi, Moi Gomez, Pedraza, Aurier.
Manager: Unai Emery – Had his game plan laid out and it worked in the first-half, as they frustrated the Reds and contained them in the first-half, but they ended up conceding two early in the second-half.
Referee: Szymon Marciniak –
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