Liverpool successfully navigated this first of four matches that could decide their hopes of an unprecedented quadruple, even though it briefly threatened to be an archetypal game of two halves. Luis Diaz’s late goal and some timely second-half substitutions broke Benfica’s second half resurgence at the Estadio da Luz to secure a win that was deserved on the overall balance of play.
As it is, Jurgen Klopp’s team will go into the second leg of this Champions League quarter-final with a comfortable though not entirely commanding two-goal advantage to protect, with Diaz adding to strikes by Ibrahima Konate and Sadio Mane during a one-sided first half. It would be a mixed night for Konate, though, whose mistake led to Darwin Nunez’s reply.
