Alberto Moreno has declared the Anfield atmosphere is even more hostile than the one at Bayern Munich's Allianz Arena as Villarreal prepare to take on Liverpool in the Champions League.
The Spaniard, 29, knows the Reds' 53,000-seater home well having spent five seasons with the club between 2014 and 2019. He was released shortly after helping Liverpool win the Champions League and joined Villarreal, who qualified for this season's competition by defeating Manchester United in the 2021 Europa League final.
Remarkably, Unai Emery has led his side to the semi-finals with aggregate victories over Juventus and Bayern on the way. Having won their home leg 1-0, Villarreal held the German giants to a 1-1 draw at the palatial, 75,000-seater Allianz Arena to book their spot in the last four.
However, Moreno insists an even more imposing atmosphere awaits his teammates as they travel to Merseyside for a hotly-anticipated European fixture on Wednesday night. "Yes, for me personally yes," he told Marca when asked if Anfield is more hostile than the Allianz.
"And I don't want any conflict or anything. But many of Villarreal's players have already played at Anfield and they know what it's like. It is a point in our favour. We already know what that is and that we must try not to listen to anything. Dedicate yourself to playing football and that's it."
As Moreno mentioned, many of his teammates will have experienced the roar of the Anfield faithful first hand as Villarreal have many ex- Premier League players in their ranks. These include former Tottenham and Watford stalwart Etienne Capoue, former Spurs defenders Juan Foyth and Serge Aurier, former Bournemouth winger Arnaut Danjuma and former Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin.
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Despite the fact many crew members of the so-called 'Yellow Submarine' have been blooded at Anfield, Moreno admits his team will need to "suffer" to get a result in the first leg. The former Spain international - who will miss the tie due to a ruptured cruciate ligament sustained in March - added: "If you want to win against these teams you have to suffer.
"You're not going to beat one of these teams to the face, it's impossible. You have to suffer and we know how to suffer. And Villarreal has a virtue, that we all know how to suffer together as a team, but then we also know how to play football because there are players in this squad of spectacular quality.
"That explains the way we are doing. Because when we have to suffer against big teams, we suffer. And we know how to do it. And then with the ball the big teams suffer against us. They are aware of that."
