Liverpool progress despite being held by Benfica in Anfield thriller

Posted Thursday, April 14, 2022 by Marca.com

In the most comfortable of the four Champions League quarter-final wins, Liverpool booked their place in the competition's final four with a 3-3 draw with Benfica on Wednesday night.

Having won 3-1 in Portugal a week earlier, Jurgen Klopp's side strolled into the semi-finals with a rather straightforward 6-4 aggregate win. Ibrahima Konate and Roberto Firmino were the goalscorers in Wednesday's second leg.

The Reds went ahead midway through the first half through an unlikely scorer, with Konate opening the scoring for the second week in a row for Liverpool. The defender rose highest in the box to head home a cross from Konstantinos Tsimikas.

Despite trailing by three aggregate goals, though, Benfica didn't let their heads dropped and levelled on the night just 10 minutes later. Goncalo Ramos was the scorer, sending a well-placed low shot past Alisson Becker from the edge of the box.

Not that the result was ever really in doubt, but Liverpool stepped things up in the second half and made it 2-1 10 minutes after the restart. Firmino showed his striker's instincts to pounce on an error, and the ball made its way to Diogo Jota who centred for the Brazilian to tap in.

Firmino got his seconds after another 10 minutes had passed, this time Tsimikas was the provider once more. Benfica's defenders switched off momentarily, and the Greek's free-kick was converted by the No.9.

Again, though, Benfica kept coming. Roman Yaremchuck pulled one back with 15 minutes to play, but it was never likely to be more than a consolation goal. Darwin Nunez did go on to level the scores on the night with less than 10 minutes of the 90 remaining.