Andy Robertson has paid tribute to Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson for his half-time team talk which helped the side overcome Villarreal on Wednesday night.
Liverpool completed a dominant 2-0 win over Unai Emery’s side at Anfield to make them big favourites to progress in the second leg of the Champions League semi-final. But they were far from assured of victory at half-time after Villarreal had kept the home team out and left the home fans frustrated with their low block.
Jurgen Klopp’s side came in at the break at 0-0, with Thiago Alcantara’s long-range effort onto the post the closest they had come to scoring from their 13 efforts at goal. Liverpool did not panic and were rewarded with two goals in two second-half minutes.
Henderson’s cross deflected off Pervis Estupinan and over goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli to make it 1-0 in the 53rd minute. Sadio Mane then poked home a second from Mohamed Salah’s pass through Pau Torres’ legs to give Liverpool complete control which they never surrendered.
Speaking to BT Sport shortly after the match, Robertson said the message at half-time was not to get frustrated when coming up against Villarreal’s yellow wall. He said: “Yeah, that was the message from Hendo and the gaffer at half time, just saying we were playing well, some of the best stuff we have played this season and we didn’t get a goal for it. But we stayed patient, got that first goal and managed to get that breakthrough.”
Liverpool pressed high up the pitch to smother Villarreal, who failed to trouble Alisson all night, or even have a single shot on target. Emery’s side continued to try and play out from the back from goal-kicks, but consistently lost possession in dangerous areas due to Liverpool’s intensity. That was due to Klopp’s game plan, according to Robertson.
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“You have to, it is the semi-final of the Champions League – if you can’t run about for 90 minutes, then when will you?” he added. “Our intensity has been really high over the past couple of games. We have had a hectic schedule but we are enjoying it and I think you can see that today, but there is still a lot of work left to do in this tie.”
Liverpool could perhaps have added further gloss to their win. They had 19 shots on Rulli’s goal but could not convert a third goal, with Fabinho and Robertson’s efforts ruled out correctly by the linesman for offside in the second half.
“Look, we had a few chances in the first half trying to break them down and keep doing what we were doing,” Robertson added. “The first goal gives us momentum, the atmosphere here after that goal was sensational, and the second one. It would have been nice to add a second, but a clean sheet and two goals, you can't argue with that.”
