Jurgen Klopp is taking nothing for granted despite watching his Liverpool side take a huge step towards the Champions League final with victory over Villarreal.
Overwhelming favourites against the Spanish side even before a ball was kicked in the tie, the Reds have one foot in the final in Paris after a 2-0 victory at Anfield on Wednesday night.
Jordan Henderson’s cross deflected in off Pervis Estupiñán soon after half-time before Sadio Mane gave the Reds breathing space ahead of next week’s return.
Villarreal have seen off Juventus and Bayern Munich to reach only the second semi-final in their history, but face a huge task to overturn the deficit against Klopp’s quadruple chasers.
“It was a brilliant game,” Klopp said. “The first half I liked a lot - we didn’t score, that was the only problem that we had. But we kept them quiet, which was important because of the counter-attacking threat.
“We tried to create, tried to be direct, mix it up, play through the lines. We had a lots of good moments, no goals, true, but I was really fine with the first half.
“And then in the second half, obviously we finished the situations off. Both goals were outstanding. We wanted to score a third, but from a specific moment on it makes then sense that you control the game, and that is what we did.
“It’s half-time, nothing else, but it’s better than before the game.”
