‘Relentless Reds’ impress: ‘This is the best Liverpool ever’ | Foreign football

Villarreal, which previously eliminated Juventus and Bayern Munich, among others, mainly limited himself to defending. Attacker Arnaut Danjuma Groeneveld therefore hardly had the opportunity to distinguish himself. He was replaced shortly after.

From a sensational duel, like the day before in the other semi-final between Manchester City and Real Madrid (4-3), was therefore not the case. But the superlatives don’t lie. Liverpool had 74 percent possession of the ball – so Villarreal 26% – and completed 737 passes against 272.

In the BT Sport studio, the three analysts Rio Ferdinand (81-time international), Michael Owen (Liverpool icon and 89-time international) and Peter Crouch (42-time international) were impressed by Liverpool and the trainer’s method Jurgen Klopp. “This is the best Liverpool I’ve ever seen,” said Ferdinand. “They are ruthless. The way they push teams back, that energy, that effort. I sat here in amazement.”

Owen: ,,This was total dominance. For me, too, this is the best Liverpool I’ve seen play. They are everywhere. The Villarreal players have stepped off the pitch thinking: ‘What happened to us here?’ It is simply impossible to find an answer to this pressing. But… Villarreal is not quite finished in my opinion. Liverpool needed one more goal for that. Then it had game, set and match been.

Crouch adds: ,,Unfortunately, I am too young to compare this group with the selection from the 1970s. But this is the best I could see with my own eyes. Villarreal did not get a second of rest and time. That Liverpool midfield, with Fabinho, Thiago and Henderson, was amazing.”

The last word is for the coach himself, Jurgen Klopp: ,,It was a brilliant game. I am very pleased with the first half. The only problem was we didn’t score. But we did control them. That was important because of their counters. After the break we finished it off with two excellent goals.”