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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Mark Wakefield

Liverpool could lose two players for potential Champions League semi-final against Villarreal

Liverpool are back in Champions League action tonight as they take on Benfica for a place in the semi-final.

The Reds hold a 3-1 advantage from the first leg at the Estadio da Luz last week, and will now look to progress in the competition with a similar performance this evening at Anfield in the second leg. Ibrahima Konate, Sadio Mane and Luis Diaz got the goals for Liverpool in the first leg last week.

Should Jurgen Klopp’s side see off Benfica this evening, they would go on to face Villarreal in the semi-final. The La Liga outfit recorded a stunning 2-1 aggregate win over Bayern Munich to knock the Bundesliga giants out of the competition.

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Elsewhere in the competition, Real Madrid beat Chelsea in their quarter-final to reach the last four. They, just like Liverpool, had a 3-1 lead going into the second leg but the tie went to extra time before a Karim Benzema goal saw Madrid go through with a 5-4 aggregate scoreline.

For Liverpool, they go into tonight’s match against Benfica knowing that some of their players are at risk of missing the first leg of a potential semi-final. The two players at risk are Sadio Mane and Diogo Jota.

Under UEFA rules, players who accumulate three yellow cards during an elite competition will be handed a one-game suspension. Both Jota and Mane have received two bookings so far in the competition.

Should these two receive another yellow card this evening, then they would miss a potential semi-final first leg against Villarreal. James Milner has already picked up three yellow cards in the competition this season, and served his suspension for the away trip to AC Milan in the group stage.

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