Five days later, at 20:00 on the evening of April 28, with the referee's whistle, the first leg of the 2015/2016 Europa League semi-finals between Villarreal and Liverpool was played at Villarreal. The home stadium of Love Song officially begins.
Although Villarreal is not as well-known as Dortmund, it can reach the semi-finals and is in good shape. Liverpool almost overturned against Dortmund. Now they are only one step away from the final, and they cannot be careless because their opponents are not as famous as themselves.
Therefore, Liverpool did not rush to attack aggressively after the game started. After all, this was an away game, and they had to adapt to the unfamiliar stadium, environment, fan atmosphere, etc.
Villarreal, nicknamed the Yellow Submarine, is naturally a little more impatient. After all, their schedule is home and then away and they are at a disadvantage. They must score as many goals as possible at home before they can go to the second round. Defeated Liverpool at Anfield and advanced to the final.
Therefore, they took advantage of the opportunity when Liverpool was playing away from home and had not yet established a stable foothold to launch an attack first and try to score first.
However, Liverpool did not give them a chance. The already well-coordinated defense and Velarde's checking and filling of vacancies, as well as the high-position pressing of Coutinho, Sturridge, Firmino and others, allowed Villarreal to It is impossible to launch a threatening attack at all.
There is still a big gap in strength between the two sides.
In particular, Velarde's consciousness has increased to 94, and his physique is 94. He is more powerful in defense and command. Villarreal has almost no decent opportunities.
On the other hand, once Liverpool gets the ball and counterattacks, Willard, Milner, Coutinho, Sturridge, Firmino, as well as Joe Allen and the two full-backs who take turns assisting, Villarreal's defense is often left in disarray.
Although Liverpool had poor luck in scoring today and wasted several counterattack opportunities, the goal finally came in the 36th minute.
This is when Willard hit the wall with Joe Allen on the left, broke through Villarreal's midfielder Thomas Pina, and then passed the wing-back Honatan Do with a fried ball. After Santos was intercepted by full-back Mario Gaspar about 15 meters away from the baseline, Velarde did not break through toward the baseline. Instead, he suddenly spiked the ball and cut inward laterally, and then left in front of the penalty area. He swung sideways to open up the shooting gap, then took a long shot, and shot in an arc into the far corner.
Velarde's skill (arc) of 93, coupled with his shooting that has been increased to 94, and the shooting power brought by his physique, allowed Velarde to hit a perfect arc shot, drawing a perfect path in the air. Arc, bypassing goalkeeper Asenjo's fingers, flying into the goal against the far post!
The commentators in England shouted excitedly:
"Goooooooooooooooooooooal..."
"The ball went in!!!"
"The long shot from outside the penalty area from Velarde was a perfect arcing shot, bypassing the players on both sides of the penalty area and goalkeeper Asenjo's save, and flew into Villarreal's goal."
"This goal not only gave Liverpool a 1-0 lead on aggregate, but also gave Liverpool an away goal."
"Liverpool scored first and took the advantage."
"Villarreal, who are playing at home, must fight hard."
Of course Villarreal had to fight hard. After the game restarted, they attacked in various ways, but they still couldn't break through Liverpool's defense.
Villard, in particular, not only has great defensive abilities, but is also able to command and assist his teammates in defense.
As time goes by, Willard has gained more and more trust from his teammates. When he gives orders, more and more teammates are willing to obey him, and almost no one will object to his instructions.
Under the influence of 94 consciousness, Velarde can always find loopholes in his own defense or the direction of the opponent's attack in time. Even if he cannot rush over, he can still direct his teammates to defend, interfere, and intercept. Even if he can't stop him, he can still delay time and let Villard run to the right position to interfere with the opponent's offense.
Velarde's outstanding performance coupled with Villarreal's poor state failed to bring out the maximum potential and best form of the Yellow Submarine. It was not until the end of the first half that Villarreal played A good attack, forward Bakambu completed a threatening shot from the penalty area line that hit the goal frame.
However, the angle of the shot was not very tricky this time. In the end, goalkeeper Mignolet flew sideways and saved the ball from the baseline.
Villarreal failed to grab the first point from the subsequent corner kick and was saved by Liverpool center back Kolo Toure out of the penalty area.
After 1 minute of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half. The two sides entered the halftime break with a score of 0-1. Liverpool, playing away, temporarily led by one goal.
After a 15-minute break, the second half began, and Villarreal significantly strengthened its offensive. After all, they are now behind on the total score and have been given an away goal by Liverpool, so they can't do anything without attacking.
However, Liverpool's defense is still very stable, and Villarreal's offense still cannot break through Liverpool's defense. Not only that, the Red Army also used the opportunity to gain the ball from time to time to fight back.
If Sturridge, Firmino and others weren't in poor condition, they might have scored again.
But even so, Liverpool's second goal did not come too late.
In the 64th minute of the second half, Lovren intercepted the ball in the backcourt and handed it to Milner. Milner took two steps and was intercepted by the opponent's midfielder.
But at this time, Willard had already run out of the gap, and Milner passed the ball over. While Willard received the ball near the center circle, he made a Marseille spin and first avoided the opponent's midfielder Bruno Soriano. He grabbed the ball and then advanced through the middle with the ball, using his skillful personal skills to break through the interceptions of two opponents.
When he finally dribbled the ball to the top of the penalty area, the last defender in front of him, Victor Luis, did not dare to attack easily, but retreated into the penalty area. He originally wanted to retreat while blocking the position, preventing Willard from easily entering the penalty area, and waiting for his teammates to surround and pinch him.
Unexpectedly, Villard didn't care whether he could enter the penalty area. His shooting power, technique and shooting skills were very threatening even outside the penalty area.
Therefore, seeing Victor Ruiz retreat into the penalty area, Velarde did not bring the ball closer, but adjusted a step and decisively shot.
Seeing Velarde's shot, Victor Ruiz changed his expression and turned his back to block the hole of the shot, but it was already too late.
The ball flew past him, drew another arc in the air, hit the right post, and flew into Villarreal's goal again.
"Wow, the ball went in again!"
"It's Willard again!"
"Willard scored twice at the Love Song Stadium to help Liverpool extend the score to 2-0 and score two away goals."
"This score is not very big, but because of the schedule, if the two sides end the game with this score, according to historical statistics, the probability of Villarreal going to Anfield for an away comeback in the second round is almost zero."
"Therefore, Velarde's goal pushed Villarreal to a dead end."
"In the remaining time, Yellow Submarine can only go all out to attack in order to save a glimmer of hope of advancing to the finals."
"Otherwise, Villarreal will miss the final."
Indeed, they are at a disadvantage in terms of schedule. They are still two goals behind in the total score and have allowed Liverpool to score two away goals. If Villarreal cannot score to narrow the gap, then the second round will be in Anglia. If you go to Field Stadium, you will almost certainly lose.
What's more, in the quarter-finals, even if Dortmund lost 1-2 in the first leg, they went to the away game in the second round and were in great form, and lost in the end.
If Villarreal can't even match Dortmund's 1-2, then being eliminated in the second round is basically a certainty.
If they want to retain any hope of advancing to the finals, Villarreal must attack and score goals.
After the game restarted, Villarreal made another substitution and then launched a fierce attack. At the same time, they also worked harder when defending. Once the ball was lost, everyone returned to defend and could not let Liverpool score any more goals.
Liverpool did not score again in the remaining time, but Villarreal also failed to score.
In the 79th minute, Villarreal actually also made a wonderful pass. Thomas Pina sent an extremely exquisite diagonal pass and sent the ball into the penalty area.
However, striker Soldado was unlucky when he shot in front of goal and hit goalkeeper Mignolet, causing the ball to bounce out.
If the ball was slightly deflected and at an angle, it might have gone in. Because the distance was too close, goalkeeper Mignolet couldn't save it.
However, Soldado himself was unlucky. The ball he kicked out of the shot hit Mignolet, causing him to fail to score.
Even Liverpool had the possibility to continue to expand the score. Unfortunately, for the same reason, Coutinho was also in poor condition. His shot in the penalty area was too angled and was directly confiscated by goalkeeper Asenho, resulting in a failure to kill him completely. Two rounds of suspense.
In the end, after 3 minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the game. Liverpool relied on Willard's excellent score to beat Villarreal 2-0 in the away game. Two goals ahead and two away goals advantage.
This score cannot be said to completely kill the suspense, but according to historical statistics, it is already close to 100% of the probability of advancement.
Therefore, after the game, Liverpool and a small number of Red Army fans who traveled with the team to Spain had a warm celebration and interaction.
Willard also gained the experience of starting at 10 million + 2 goals 10 million + winning bonus 20 million + A-level performance 50 million = 100 million.
What is frustrating is that the upgrade experience is getting higher and higher now. It takes 900 million experience to upgrade from level 44 to level 45. The season is about to end again, and it may be difficult to upgrade in a short period of time.
