Juventus had no idea what hit them and Bayern Munich were not expecting it either but Liverpool are forewarned, forearmed and not so foolish. They are also better. The Villarreal manager, Unai Emery, insists that, having beaten two giants en route to the Champions League semi-final, his team no longer have the element of surprise to help see them through. Instead they must produce the “perfect” performance to defeat a Liverpool team he described as “updated and improved” – and it was “magnificent” before.
Emery was sitting on the bench when Sevilla defeated Liverpool in the 2016 Europa League final at the end of Jürgen Klopp’s first season at the club and in the stands in Madrid when they won the Champions League three years later. He has also experienced defeat at Anfield with Arsenal. Now he says he will sit at the side of the pitch at Anfield and face a team who are different again, the product of a plan and the personality of their manager, evolved into something even more complete than ever.
