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Villarreal of Spain winger, Samuel Chukwueze will get another chance of heroic in the UEFA Champions League, as his side will tango Liverpool of England in the semi-finals early next month, megasportsarena.com reports.
Chukwueze hit headlines on Tuesday when he got off Villarreal’s bench with five minutes to go and netted a crucial 88th minute equaliser that helped his side draw 1-1 away to Bayern Munich of Germany.
That result took their haul to 2-1 on aggregate scores against the German Bundesliga giants, with Nigerian-born attacker, Arnaut Danjuma having scored a lone goal for The Yellow Submarine in the first leg played in Spain.
Chukwueze and Danjuma, who also starred in Villarreal’s elimination pill handed Juventus of Italy earlier on, will now aim for another upset in the semi-finals.
They get that opportunity after Liverpool booked their spot in the final four of the Champions League against Villarreal with a 3-3 draw against Benfica of Portugal, but the Merseysiders cruised ahead at 6-4 on aggregate scores.
Ibrahima Konate effort and Roberto Firmino’s double did the damage for the English Premier League side, as they repelled a brief threat of a Benfica comeback when Goncalo Ramos netted in the first half.
Roman Yaremchuk and the impressive Darwin Nunez scored two consolation goals for the visitors to level the game on the night but overall it was a routine evening for The Reds.
Liverpool’s coach, Jurgen Klopp decided to rest Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mane, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andrew Robertson and Mohamed Salah from the start in a rotated team from the 2-2 draw with Manchester City on Sunday.
Chukwueze, Danjuma and their teammates will, however, have to note that Liverpool had been victorious on aggregate in all 35 UEFA competition ties in which they won the away first leg and had few moments of worry at Anfield, having got a 3-1 lead from the first leg.
Villarreal will also have all odds staked against them, as Liverpool have now reached the UCL semi-final for a 12th time; no English club has got to the last four more times (level with Manchester United).
It is another march into history for Klopp, who has now reached the semi-finals of the Champions League for a fourth time, three of which have been with Liverpool (other one with Borussia Dortmund).
Firmino became the fourth player to score 20 European Cup/Champions League goals for Liverpool, after Mo Salah (33), Sadio Mané (22) and Steven Gerrard (21).
Klopp will also aim for better tidings in one of two England-versus-Spain UCL semi-finals, the other being Manchester City against Real Madrid, as the first legs hold April 26/27, second legs May 3/4 and the final in Paris on May 28.
“The day when we qualify for the semi-finals of the Champions League and I’m not happy, come here and knock me out – it would make no sense,” Klopp told BT Sport.
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