(Football news) No one in the footballing world expected Villarreal to reach the semi finals of the UEFA Champions League but they have done it. Unai Emery's men won the Europa League by defeating Arsenal in the semis and Manchester United in the finals. Their cup win guaranteed them an automatic qualification into the UCL this season. In their first UCL appearance since 2011/12, they finished 2nd in their group ahead of Atalanta. The yellow Submarine then went on to eliminate giants Juventus and Bayern Munich to reach the semi finals.

Liverpool on the other hand won all their group stage matches against Porto, Atletico Madrid and AC Milan. In the round of 16 they barely got past Inter Milan before getting the better of Benfica in the quarter finals. Their path to the semi finals hasn't been the most difficult but it will take some effort to defeat this Villarreal side. They will have to do so without Roberto Firmino who is injured. Jurgen Klopp has a lot of selection headaches as he has to choose one of Joel Matip and Ibrahim Konate. Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota are also fighting for 1 spot. Villarreal on the other hand will be without former Liverpool player Alberto Moreno and winger Gerard Moreno.

The flow of the game is very easy to predict as it will be attack vs defence. Liverpool will push to get as many goals as possible while Villarreal will look to soak up all the pressure and play on the counter attack. Anfield is probably the toughest away ground to play at but if the yellow Submarine manage to get a result then it will be an incredible confidence booster for them. Liverpool will have to be very careful of Villarreal's counter attacking threat. Dani Parejo will be the key for the away side. He is more than capable of playing an inch perfect through ball for either Arnaut Danjuma or Giovanni Lo Celso. Geronimo Rulli is expected to be very busy between the sticks against Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.

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