The great night of Thiago Alcántara, the artist who never leaves you indifferent

• Chronicle Villarreal is injured with two blows in two minutes

• 2-0 at Anfield Narration and statistics

• Champions League semi-finals Program and results

• The lawnmower A lot of red and a little yellow at Anfield

It is in these instances where soccer players like

or

are expected .

The Egyptian had been out of focus for months in the tournament where

, his great rival in the fight for the Ballon d'Or, has scored nine goals in the qualifiers.

On the other hand, the notorious progression in the Premier of the former Barça footballer awaited the endorsement of this semifinal.

There's so much football in the

of his right boot that it's hard to see why he hasn't reached this level of excellence much sooner.

Thiago may not be the channel through which the red waters of Liverpool are channeled.

Or at least not as often as it should.

But the talent is still there, for a game changer from 50 meters or for that shot from the edge that almost shattered the crosshead.

If so many times he has been reproached for his baroque style, his self-indulgence, games like this one at Anfield should be remembered no less.

Even in a team as prodigiously technical as Liverpool, Thiago remains that genius who never leaves indifferent.

His presence was palpable yesterday in the form of 103 passes, with a 96.3% success rate.

34 of them were in the last third of the field, with nine game changes, with maximum precision in all of them.

"It wasn't just about patience, it was about finding out where there were holes in his defense.

We should have the space to be ourselves.

That was the key", analyzed Thiago, after being named best footballer of the match.

Mané, at the height of Drogba

Salah, much more constant, did not need so much filigree to impose his criteria.

At full speed, the Pharaoh gave a recital yesterday in the company of

and

.

From the right profile, he gradually undermined the consistency of

, while the Colombian suffered with the impeccable professionalism of

.

Any wonder can be expected from an attack front where Salah and Mané could understand each other with a blindfold.

Yesterday, the Senegalese matched

's record and with 14 goals he is the all-time top scorer in Africa in the Champions League qualifiers.

's Bayern had so much to regret

.

And it was applied with the usual efficiency in that pressure after loss with which he has been dominating until today to aspire to the clover of titles.

At the voice of

and

,

's team advanced their back line until the opponent's proposal was rendered irrelevant.

Until almost nothing.

"I can't discuss the result"

"It was a brilliant game, where we were able to keep Villarreal at bay, especially their threat on the counterattack," the German coach specified.

's domain

.

The worst record in the modern history of the Champions League, at the height of that 2010 semifinal with Inter at the Camp Nou.

«We have not thrown a corner kick, even that we have done wrong.

But in the second leg we will see a very different game, ”Emery warned about what he expects at La Cerámica.

"I can't argue with the result.

What I have to do is accept reality and adapt, "the Basque coach added. The absence of

, the axis on which his attack front is articulated, weighed too much yesterday at Anfield.

Only with the Spanish international in good condition, in the company of

and

, will Villarreal be able to dream of the heroic against the great favorite for the title.

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