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LIVERPOOL: Villarreal know they won’t have the luxury of being taken lightly by Liverpool in their Champions League semi-final first leg but they are convinced they can spring another surprise on Wednesday.
After knocking out Juventus in the last 16 and beating Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals, Villarreal are looking to pull off another shock by defeating Liverpool, the six-time European champions and favourites for this year’s tournament.
Manager Unai Emery believes his team no longer have the element of surprise in their bid to reach their first Champions League final but said on Tuesday that his side will need to execute a perfect game to eliminate the former winners.
“The surprise factor decreases after you do what we did,” Emery told a news conference at Anfield as he prepares his side for Wednesday’s match. “Liverpool know that we are here because we have been able to compete. For us, that means the challenge is greater.
“Against Juve there were certain moments when their reaction didn’t come through. Against Bayern, from behind, we were able to find our best version and use that background to overcome them. And that is no longer present. Whoever reaches the semi-finals are here because they have deserved it.”
The Spaniard conceded that Liverpool, who have won the Champions League six times, would rightfully count themselves as favourites for the tie, but that his side were hungry for more success having won the Europa League last season.
“They are wise and now they know who we are. They know that the tie is going to be difficult and they will be prepared, no doubt about it,” Emery said. “But it is inevitable for them to feel as the favourites, as it is normal, their potential is massive.
“But we have greater motivation and enthusiasm. It’s Liverpool, I think the best Liverpool that I have known, but I take that as motivation to play the perfect game and to beat Liverpool at their best.
“The journey does not have to end, we want to be in charge, to create chances. In normal conditions they are superior to us but we have our own ideas, individually and as a team, to allow us to compete.”
Villarreal sit seventh in La Liga but have a knack for upsetting Europe’s biggest teams, after also prevailing against Arsenal and Manchester United to win the Europa League last year.
“We have complete confidence,” said captain Dani Parejo in Tuesday’s press conference. “On the basis of the teams we have beaten, not only this year, but also last year in the Europa League, and now the journey we have had in this Champions League.
“We are calm and we look at the group we have — we have good individuals but our greatest strength is the team. Knocking out Juventus and Bayern was very important for us because it showed we can reach a level where we can compete with these teams.”
Emery has faced Liverpool twice at Anfield and lost both times, 5-1 and 3-1, when he was Arsenal manager but Liverpool have been stung by Emery in the past — his Sevilla side won the Europa League final 3-1 in manager Juergen Klopp’s first season in England.
Since then, the Reds have lifted their sixth European Cup, in 2019, and ended a 30-year wait to win the Premier League title.
The Reds have the chance to clinch an unprecedented quadruple this season after having already won the League Cup and reaching the FA Cup final, while they trail Premier League leaders Manchester City by one point with five games to play.
Victory over the Yellow Submarine would mean a third Champions League final in five seasons for Liverpool.
Klopp said that Juventus and Bayern may have underestimated Villarreal but his team will not make the same mistake.
“There might have been a slight advantage [for Villarreal] where Juve or Bayern might have underestimated them but that won’t happen with us. They want to be part of the final but it’s the same importance for us,” Klopp told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s special. It’s crazy — a massive game. So many coaches, players work their socks off their whole lives and don’t get close to this. We have to cherish it and enjoy it.”
Liverpool last featured in this stage of the competition three years ago, against Barcelona, and Klopp said that home support, which helped them turn around a 3-0 deficit from the first leg in 2019, would be crucial.
“We need a similar atmosphere and a big performance. I need to be on top of my game, so do the boys, that is fine. If a semi-final in this competition would be easy, something would be really wrong. I can’t wait for it, to be honest,” he said. “There are moments when we will suffer and I know that. We don’t need to get nervous but we can make them suffer too.”
The German lavished praise on counterpart Emery, calling him a “world-class coach” whose team are adept at dealing with different game situations.
“We have properly analysed Villarreal. I have proper respect for Unai and them. I watched them properly and wow! Impressive. He is a detail-obsessed manager. Different ways to press and react to different results,” added Klopp. “They’re made for this competition to be honest because the way they set it up it’s really, really good.”