Liverpool 3 Villarreal 0 (3-1 agg): Anfield comeback sends Klopp´s men into final

Liverpool have booked their place in the Europa League final courtesy of a 3-1 aggregate victory over 10-man Villarreal at Anfield this evening.

The Reds dominated the vast majority of the second-leg tie on Merseyside, securing a 3-0 win on the night to overturn last week’s narrow deficit at El Madrigal.

A Bruno Soriano own goal opened the scoring for Liverpool, before Daniel Sturridge and Adam Lallanaadded strikes of their own to seal a first European final in nine years for the Premier League outfit.

Victory for Sevilla elsewhere this evening sets up an intriguing showdown at St Jakob Park later this month, with the Spaniards going in search of a third-successive crown in this competition.

The first chance of a frenetic opening 45 minutes fell the way of Mario Gaspar, who got on the end of Roberto Soldado‘s knockdown inside the box to power a deflected shot on goal.

Moments after Jonathan dos Santos had blasted a shot of his own over the bar, a Nathaniel Clyne cross from the right was horribly dealt with by Alphonse Areola – in for Sergio Asenjo this evening – allowing Firmino to turn it back into a central position.

Sturridge, given the nod up top by Jurgen Klopp this evening, was waiting to pick out the target via a fortunate deflection off Soriano on its way through.

Liverpool took control of the first half from that point on, but their only other real chance came 15 minutes in when Lallana failed to make the desired contact with James Milner‘s pass around the back of the opposition defence.

All the Reds’ pressing nearly counted for little when Cedric Bakambu, otherwise quiet up until that point, sent a first-time shot into the hands of Mignolet in the final act of the opening 45 minutes.

Bakambu, with nine goals to his name already in the competition this season, would have been in behind again just moments into the second half if not for Dejan Lovren‘s sliding challenge to cut out the danger.

The explosive start to the second period continued when Philippe Coutinho worked away a shooting position for Areola to pull off a save at his front post, before Milner tested the returning keeper with a strike of his own down the middle.

Liverpool, perhaps sensing Areola’s nerves, were very much shooting on sight with Sturridge and Alberto Moreno attempts arriving prior to the hour mark without too much trouble.

It was proving to be a tense occasion on Merseyside at this point in proceedings, with neither side truly creating any big openings, but that all changed 63 minutes in when Firmino’s pass found its way through to Sturridge to trickle the ball over the line via the right-hand post.

While Sturridge’s fourth goal in his last five appearances at Anfield put his side well on their way to this month’s final in Basel, it was the second yellow shown to Victor Ruiz shortly after that helped settle nerves a little more.

The Yellow Submarine’s hopes were fading away heading into the final quarter of the match, as Firmino’s long-range blaster again asked questions of Areola, but they still required just one goal to progress through.

Lallana was quick to make sure of Liverpool’s place in the final, though, making the most of some more impressive work from Firmino down the left to flick Sturridge’s scuffed shot past Areola and into the net.

Emre Can and Lallana both had further chances to add a fourth of the night, but in the end it mattered little for Liverpool who now have one more fixture to look forward to before the season is out.