Match Preview
Liverpool will visit Villarreal in the second leg of their semi-final encounter at La Ceramica today, with one foot in the 2021/22 Champions League final.
After losing the first leg 2-0 at Anfield last week, Villarreal will have to stage an extraordinary turnaround to reach the Champions League final.
Unai Emery’s team has gone undefeated in their previous 12 home matches, despite facing Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich, and Atletico Madrid during that period. Liverpool, on the other hand, are a completely different team. Liverpool haven’t lost away from home since December 2021 and have a firm grip on this tie after a 2-0 win at Anfield last week.
Villarreal’s Champions League hangover was evident, falling to a 2-1 defeat against relegation battlers Alavés on Saturday, and coming within a point of dropping out of the European positions altogether, they are now seventh in LaLiga, four points behind the top six and nine behind fourth-placed Atletico Madrid.
However, they now face Liverpool at a venue where Juventus and Bayern Munich both failed to win. Villarreal were absolutely dominated in the first leg and may need a miracle to save themselves..
With less than a month before the end of a whirlwind 2021-22 season, the quadruple dream remains a realistic possibility for Liverpool, who momentarily regained top spot in the Premier League after slowing Newcastle United’s momentum on Saturday afternoon.
While their domestic title fate remains outside of their hands, Liverpool are only 90 minutes away from reaching the final of the Uefa Champions League for the 10th time – only Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and AC Milan have made more final appearances.
Villarreal vs Liverpool: Form Guide and Head-to-Head
The first leg of the match between the two teams took place last week, with Liverpool coming out on top. Villarreal struggled on the day and will be looking to redeem themselves this week.
Head-to-Head
| Villareal | vs | Liverpool |
| 1 | Wins | 2 |
| 1 | Goals | 5 |
| 4 | Games played | 4 |
| 1 | Draw | 1 |
| Villarreal last 5 games |
| Alavés 2-1 Villarreal Liverpool 2-0 Villarreal Villarreal 2-0 Valencia Getafe 1-2 Villarreal Bayern 1-1 Villarreal |
| Villarreal’s form in their last 5 games in all competitions: L-L-W-W-D |
| Liverpool last 5 games |
| Newcastle 0-1 Liverpool Liverpool 2-0 Villarreal Liverpool 4-0 Manchester United Liverpool 2-0 Everton Manchester City 2-3 Liverpool |
| Liverpool’s form in their last 5 games in all competition: W-W-W-W-W |
Villarreal vs Liverpool: Team News
Villarreal’s medical room has began to fill up again towards the worst possible time, Gerard Moreno remains a worry with a hamstring injury and may only be fit enough to sit on the bench this week, with ex-Liverpool players Alberto Moreno and Yeremi Pino still out, while Arnaut Danjuma was forced to leave the Alaves defeat at the last minute. Francis Coquelin and Raul Albiol are expected to be healthy for the second leg. After making the changes for the domestic match, the Villarreal manager will turn to his strongest possible XI this week.
The only injury issue for Liverpool is Brazilian forward Roberto Firmino, whose foot injury is becoming more tough to overcome than expected, and he will not play here.
Kostas Tsimikas and Curtis Jones both came off the bench in the win over Newcastle, while cult hero Divock Origi is also back in action following a bug. Villarreal will be going against a complete and tactical liverpool side.
Villarreal vs Liverpool: Match Prediction
In recent months, a variety of teams have found it tough to get through in Villarreal’s home, but Villarreal provided little to nothing in attack at Anfield and have been plagued by forward line injuries at the worst possible time. While Liverpool may find it more difficult to assert their authority away from Anfield, a rejuvenated side that appears to be unbeatable at the moment could easily qualify for the final, so our prediction is Mane to score and Over 1.5 goals.
Match Odds
| Villarreal to win 4.59 Liverpool to win 1.78 Draw holds a whopping 4.14 |
Bet on Villarreal vs Liverpool with FrapapaBET
