Villarreal and Liverpool will clash at Anfield on Wednesday to play the first leg of the Champions League semifinals with the same dream: to land at the Stade de France on May 28 to play in the final. The Yellow Submarine are hoping that this time it will be good, after losing in the ‘semi’ of 2005-06 against Arsenal. That final, which Barcelona won against the ‘Gunners’, took place at the same stage: the Stade de France. On the other hand, Liverpool left the ‘groguets’ without the 2015-16 Europa League final. That was the night James Milner entertained Denis Suárez and Villarreal.
Villarreal, current Europa League champions after beating Manchester United on penalties, won the first leg of that semifinal of that tournament 1-0. In an epic way: Adrián scored the winning goal on April 28, 2016 in the 92nd minute.
But in the return leg the ‘reds’ lost 3-0 on May 5, 2016 at Anfield and it was Liverpool, where Jürgen Klopp served his first season, qualifying for the final, that certainly lost they against Sevilla of Unai Emery, current coach of Villarreal. The goals, by Bruno Soriano on his own goal, were Daniel Sturridge and Adam Lallana.
An iconic image on May 5, 2016 was Milner’s consolation of Denis Suárez, with whom the Liverpool midfielder teamed up with Manchester City. A few hours before the second leg of the semi-final, the former Barcelona media outlet expressed his admiration for Milner: “He runs better than anyone, he trains better than anyone, I always wanted him in my team. ” Suárez, who is currently at Celta, also knows what it feels like to lift the Europa League: he did it in 2014-15 when he was a member of Sevilla.
Very few survived that Europa League semi-final with their respective current teams Villarreal and Liverpool. For Villarreal, Sergio Asenjo, Mario Gaspar and Manu Trigueros. Alberto Moreno played ‘semi’ as a Liverpool player. For the ‘reds’, Milner and Roberto Firmino. Now the ‘reds’ dream of winning their seventh Champions League and the ‘groguets’, their first.
Source: La Verdad
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