The Liverpool defence was commendable
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Liverpool supporters were suddenly uncertain of the strength of their defence with the absence of quarter-final hero Mamadou Sakho, who has been so crucial in the last few matches for Liverpool.
It was time for Dejan Lovren and Kolo Toure to strike up an instant understanding to stop Villarreal’s dangerous Bakambu and Soldado, and they did exactly that throughout the match (well at least until 90 minutes).
Full-backs Clyne and Moreno chose carefully when to stay back and overlap and never attacked at the same time, always keeping a three-man defence.
Lucas Leiva did a fine job stifling the dangerous Denis Suarez and Dos Santos throughout. His tactical sense in where to close the spaces to stop Villarreal attacking through the middle was paramount for Liverpool to stay in the tie.
The Villarreal attack have caused damage to many teams this season with their razor sharp counter-attacking play but Liverpool manager Klopp got it spot on from a defensive point of view. Lovren and Toure kept in line with each other, not being fooled by the potential of Soldado to pull them apart with clever play.
If these two can play like this in the second leg with a more shaped Liverpool attack, it’s tempting to say that Liverpool can stop Villarreal from scoring that away goal.
