Liverpool welcome Benfica to Anfield in Wednesday’s Champions League showdown with the home side hoping to secure a semi-final berth with ease.
A 3-1 win for Jurgen Klopp’s high-flying Merseysiders in the first leg contest played out at the Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica last week had meant that Liverpool would head into the reverse fixture with a healthy lead.
Since then, the Reds were involved in the high-billed top of the table game against Manchester City at the Etihad with the thriller of the afternoon showdown finishing in a 2-2 draw to make up for an exciting conclusion to the Premier League campaign.
The road to the Champions League final might have become just a bit easier for Liverpool following Bayern Munich sent crashing out of the competition on Tuesday night by the massive underdogs Villarreal who are set to face the winner of the Liverpool vs Benfica contest.
Jordan Henderson and Co. are in for a quadruple battle but have the Benfica tie awaiting them first with arch rivals Manchester United their next opponents in league football over this coming weekend.
Last week’s first leg win over Benfica had marked a convincing showing on all fronts, barring a defensive lapse from Ibrahima Konate which allowed Benfica dangerman Darwin Nunez to score, from Liverpool and the supporters would be looking for a repeat of the same in the forthcoming outing on home turf.
Klopp could be inclined towards ringing in changes to his first XI midweek and rest some of his key regulars in the form of Mohamed Salah and Fabinho with the FA Cup semi-final against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City also looming at large for the Anfield camp.
WHEN & WHERE?
Attentions turn to the second-leg of our #UCL quarter-final! 👊🔴 pic.twitter.com/rfuh4KGvMd
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 11, 2022
Date: Wednesday 13 April 2022
Time: 7 PM GMT
Venue: Anfield
TEAM NEWS
Jurgen Klopp has no injury troubles within his ranks ahead of the midweek game but the Liverpool boss is tipped to rotate his XI in what is now the last leg of the season and three trophies to play for.
The likes of Sadio Mane, Fabinho and Joel Matip could find themself dropping down to the bench to give way for new inductees, one of which could be the midfield maestro Naby Keita who put out an excellent showing last time around against Benfica.
KEY BATTLE
Darwin Nunez vs Luis Diaz
Nunez had been considered key to Benfica’s fortunes against Liverpool and the highly-rated forward did not disappoint going forward despite his side suffering the defeat.
Liverpool should have Luis Diaz returning to the XI after being benched for the Manchester City stalemate and the Columbian winger, who netted on his return to Portuguese turf last week, would be hoping to make a major impact.
MATCH PREDICTION
It should be Liverpool’s game to clinch the win and advance to the last four of the Champions League.
Liverpool 2-0 Benfica
