The English giant Liverpool FC defeated the Portuguese club, Benfica, in the first leg of the quarterfinal. Last night, they met the home team at Estadio da Luz, where the All Reds netted three times to seal the victory. Ibrahim Konate, Luis Diaz, and Sadio Mane scored these three goals for Liverpool. The Liverpool fans are hoping for the semifinals as they have won the first leg of the quarterfinal with a great margin.
Match Report
Last night, Benfica hosted Liverpool in the first leg of the quarterfinals of this tournament. Liverpool’s boss Jurgen Klopp set up his usual formation, 4-3-3. But he made some changes in the starting XI. He benched Diago Jota, who is the regular starter for Liverpool. Klopp replaced him with Luis Diaz. Klopp also changed the defense line. In place of Joel Matip, he used Ibrahim Konate. On the other hand, Benfica’s manager played his team in a 4-2-3-1 formation.
However, Liverpool started playing attacking football from the beginning of the match. They pressed the opponent highly whenever they lost the ball. As a result, the Klopp boys didn’t take much time to take the lead. In the 17th minute, Liverpool took the lead from a corner kick. Defender Ibrahim Konate converted the corner kick of Andrew Roberson into a goal. The second goal came after another 17 minutes. The visitors doubled the lead as Sadio Mane found the net in the 34th minute with the help of Luis Diaz. So Liverpool went to the break with a 2-0 lead.
After the half-time break, the home team appeared more stable than before. They tried to find the net. They made the match exciting by scoring a goal in the 49th minute. Darwin Nunez scored the only goal of Benfica in the 49th minute. But Liverpool didn’t allow them to equalize as they netted the third goal at the ending moment of the match. As a result, the visitors sealed the victory in the first leg of the quarterfinals.
Klopp’s Reaction
Liverpool’s manager Jurgen Klopp has reviewed the match after sealing a victory against Benfica. He said,
I didn’t expect the game being any easier, I knew. I have to say, a big compliment to Benfica, they really fought for their lives, especially after we opened the door a little bit for them. It was clear when they scored that the crowd will be back and the atmosphere was really, really good. And good football teams tend to use that. But we could calm them down immediately a little bit with the three changes. I think it helped.
