Liverpool faced Villarreal in the Champions League on Wednesday night. With the Reds deemed as overwhelming favourites, the contest appeared to be the ultimate banana skin fixture.
Unai Emery's men had knocked out Juventus in the round of 16, before defeating Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals. Villarreal had conceded just two goals against those two giants, despite playing 360 minutes of football against them.
Their clash with the German champions in particular provided a stern warning for Jurgen Klopp's outfit. Bayern are regarded as one of the best attacking outfits in Europe unlike Juventus, yet even they struggled to break through.
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The Yellow Submarine adopted specific tactics to force Bayern into making suboptimal decisions. As a result of their issues against Emery's 4-4-2, Julian Nagelsmann's players got frustrated.
Across the two legs, Bayern posted a total of 25 shots from outside the box, averaging one roughly every seven minutes, which is generally ill-advised.
In their second leg at the Allainz Arena, they accumulated a total of 34 crosses, which is their most in a single match all season. Their previous high for was 26 against Arminia in the Bundesliga, and they tend to average around 14.3 per match this year.
If Liverpool were going to find the net against Villarreal at Anfield, they were going to have to avoid the traps which disrupted the flow of Bayern's game, and they did exactly that.
The match ended 2-0 after 90 minutes, with the Reds amassing a total of 20 shots. Their number of efforts was actually less than Bayern posted in their home leg but crucially, Liverpool's attempts originated from closer to goal.
Klopp's players hit seven shots from outside the box during the bout and in terms of crosses, they posted just 16, which isn't far from their usual average of 14.4 per match in the Premier League.
Throughout the clash, Liverpool remained patient and kept probing the dangerous areas of the pitch. Although the scores were level after 45 minutes, the home side recognised their dominance and belief that a goal would arrive.
The tie isn't decided yet with the return leg scheduled for next week, but Liverpool have proved they aren't naive enough to fall for the same tactical tricks as the champions of Germany.
