Liverpool forward Diogo Jota has revealed that his team became complacent in their 3-3 draw with Benfica on Wednesday evening.
Liverpool sealed their UEFA Champions League semifinals place after a 3-3 draw against Benfica at Anfield on Wednesday evening. The Reds, fresh from a 2-2 draw with Manchester City at the weekend in the Premier League, had a 3-1 advantage from the first leg in Portugal.
Last week, Ibrahima Konate, Sadio Mane, and Luiz Diaz were all on the score sheet, and the French defender opened the scoring in the second leg in the 21st minute.
Jota explained that while they strived to always do their best, they also felt complacent at some point.
“They scored a goal almost out of nothing, but at one point, we were 6-2 up, and maybe we started to relax when we shouldn’t be. We’re through, and that’s the most important thing.” Jota said.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp decided to go with a much-changed forward line deciding to rest Sergio Mane and Mohamed Salah while starting Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota as well as Brazilian forward Roberto Firmino.
Goncalo Ramos had pulled the Portuguese level shortly after the half-hour mark, but Roberto Firmino came in with a brace in the second half to put Liverpool ahead.
His first came in off a Diogo Jota assist 5 minutes before the hour mark, while he called the second five minutes after the hour mark level of the night first through the Ukrainian forward Roman Yaremchuk.
Darwin Nunez made it 3-3 on the night with 8 minutes left to play, but it was not enough to get two more goals that would have forced extra time.
Liverpool will now face Villarreal after the 6-4 aggregate victory over Benfica. Villarreal shocked Bayern Munich when they knocked the German champions out of the competition with a 2:1 aggregate scoreline.
After a first leg 1-0 win in Spain, Villarreal then went to Germany to pick up a 1-1 draw on Tuesday night courtesy of a late goal from Nigerian forward Samuel Chukwueze’s strike, which canceled Robert Lewandowski’s early second-half goal.
Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu
