A late goal from Luis Diaz put Liverpool at the helm to reach the last four of the Champions League after a 3-1 win Benfica in their quarter-final first leg at Lisbon’s Estadio da Luz on Tuesday.
Early goal from Ibrahima Konate and Sadio Mane Liverpool were in full control in the first half but Benfica capitalized on a sloppy start in the second half of the visitors, with Darwin Nunez Pull the target back to breathe fresh life into the air. Instead, with three minutes left, Diaz grabbed a pass from Naby Keita to restore Liverpool’s two-goal advantage ahead of next week’s second leg at Anfield.
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The win also saw Liverpool set a new club record, with an eighth straight away win.
“It was difficult when they scored because the crowd was there immediately because they knew that 2-0 was nothing, great but nothing more and we saw it after they scored. table,” Jurgen Klopp told BT Sport afterwards. “The game was more open than we expected.
“That’s it. We won. Two goals ahead. Halftime. No more, no less. It would be nice to score one more, but let’s move on. We have a result. well, we know more about our opponents taking the second game and are aware of their quality.” (
For a Liverpool team facing an important trip to the Premier League leaders City of Manchester between the two matches against Benfica, the first half could hardly have been better.
Not for the first time, Liverpool’s two aggressive full-backs have been key to finding the net. First, at 17 minutes, Andy Robertson provided a precise corner and Konate advanced to top off a six-yard header for the centre-back’s first goal for Liverpool.
Then just a few minutes later, Trent Alexander-Arnold took immediate advantage from a Benfica gift in the midfield to deliver a superb cross ball over the top of the Benfica defence. Diaz had a shot in to head home and gave Mane the simple task of bouncing the ball into the net.
With his 22nd Champions League goal for Liverpool, Mane has surpassed the mark of Reds legend Steven Gerrard, second only to him Mohamed Salah in Europe’s leading competition.
At half-time, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before Klopp began to rest some of his key players ahead of Sunday’s league-leading clash at the Etihad.
Benfica, however, has other ideas. Less than five minutes into his restart, Nunez showed why he is thought to be on the radar of some of Europe’s top clubs when he scored his 20th goal in his last 20 games on the pitch. all competitions after Konate failed to cut Rafa Silva’s pass.
Klopp’s concerns are evident when it comes to choosing a three-time substitute, bringing Jordan Henderson, Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino.
Cheered by a resurgent home crowd, Benfica continued to threaten to level the score. But LiverpoolDiaz’s better quality shone through as Diaz, as he returned to Portugal after his January move from Porto, continued to prove himself to be an exceptional mid-season addition and brought Liverpool. An ideal start to a great week.
Robertson told BT Sport: “It was a tough game but we had a lot of chances to score after the second half, couldn’t do that, were sloppy and allowed them to get back into the game.
“Luis Diaz had a nice reception from the start, playing for one of their opponents, but a good goal for him and a two-goal cushion made the difference. Hopefully that’s it. We can get the job done.”
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
