If Jurgen Klopp wanted someone to be in form to face Villarreal, it is Mo Salah: David James-Sports News , Firstpost

Liverpool will host Villarreal in the first leg of the Champions League semi-finals. AP

Manchester City took a slender lead over Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, Liverpool would be hopeful of taking a sizeable lead over another Spanish side in Villarreal in Europe’s elite competition.

Should Manchester City and Liverpool progress to the final in Paris on May 28, it would be a third all-English final in four years.

It begs the question: why are the Premier League teams getting to this stage repeatedly now?

“The Premier League is strong, or stronger than the rest of the leagues. Real Madrid capitalised on Chelsea’s mistakes to deny them the chance to be the third English team in the semi-finals. But when you look at Unai Emery, you look at Villarreal, you’re not looking at a financial powerhouse in European football and therefore styles of football or organisation of football teams has been successful in that sense,” said former England goalkeeper David James who is the expert on broadcaster Sony Network.

“I love the Champions League but finances is something that is dominating the chances of winning it. Not that having spent the most money will get you the successes as we’ve seen at PSG but it gives you a better chance of being there in the last round,” added the former Manchester City and Liverpool goalkeeper.

Liverpool have only lost once at Anfield in over a year – the defeat coming against Inter Milan in March. The Merseyside club would be boosted by the fact that they play the first leg at home and come into it after a stiff 2-0 win over against Everton.

“If you look at the way Villarreal setup, 4-4-2, they’re confident and comfortable in that position defensively. So like against Everton, you’re going to have to break down a very stubborn defence. Personnel is going to be key, so someone like (Luis) Diaz would find it difficult. I wouldn’t be surprised to see (Diogo) Jota in there for the aerial threat rather than the threat on the floor.”

“But I think for every Liverpool fan at the moment, the thing that they’ve got to be happiest about is Mohamed Salah is not only scoring but he’s getting his assists back again as well. If Jurgen Klopp wanted someone to be in form at this moment, it would be Mo Salah.”

Away from the riches of Manchester City, Liverpool and Real Madrid sit Villarreal – a tiny club from Valencia. A city with population of just 51,000 and one trophy (Europa League) to show for their efforts. But this season, they’ve bundled out Juventus and Bayern Munich. Managed by Unai Emery, Villarreal have a strong defensive unit who would be hopeful of containing Liverpool at Anfield.

“I don’t expect plenty of goals but I would say win for Liverpool is important. And a clean sheet would be fantastic to take into the second leg not because obviously way goals or anything like that, but simply because as we saw at Bayern Munich, it could be very tight in the second leg. I don’t think any Liverpool fan wants it to go right to the wire even though it might be exciting!”

Watch UEFA Champions League 2021-22 (Semi Final Leg 1) – Liverpool vs. Villarreal LIVE on SONY TEN 2 (English), SONY TEN 3 (Hindi) & SONY TEN 4 (Tamil & Telugu) channels on 28th April 2022, at 12:30 am IST.

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