Liverpool welcome Benfica to Anfield in Champions League as quadruple hunt continues

Anfield has provided so many magical moments in Europe, so many cult heroes, and so much success. Now, Liverpool must go again to finish the job in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final with S.L. Benfica the visitors.

Jürgen Klopp’s side hold a 3-1 advantage from last week’s first leg in Portugal, with Ibrahima Konaté and Sadio Mané both on target in the opening 45 minutes at the Estádio da Luz.

Some nerves may have been jangling when Benfica’s Darwin Nunez scored early in the second half to halve the deficit, though a late goal from Colombian forward Luis Diaz has taken some of the pressure off Klopp’s side ahead of Wednesday night.

Still very much in the hunt for an unprecedented quadruple sat second in the Premier League, Liverpool drew 2-2 at table toppers Manchester City last weekend and will again play the Citizens this weekend coming, though that one comes in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.

Benfica meanwhile are historically the most successful Portuguese club ever, though have struggled desperately this season and have only their faint Champions League hopes to cling onto in terms of silverware.

Third in the Primeira Liga and trailing the top two by some distance, the Eagles look set to enter the UCL next season in its qualifying stages unless they go onto win the competition this term. Nélson Veríssimo’s side also lost the League Cup final to Sporting Lisbon in January in what has been a poor campaign on the whole.

A Look at the Numbers

Six-time winners of the competition, Wednesday night’s fixture will be Liverpool’s 160^th Champions League game since the competition re-branded in 1992.

Of the 159 so far, 77 have been at Anfield with many memorable occasions within that figure. The Reds could claim a 50^th home UCL victory with success against the Eagles while a draw or a defeat would take the tally to 15 in either of those columns.

And given their unquestionable goalscoring threat, Klopp’s side are more than capable of reaching 150 Champions League goals at Anfield with only two needed to reach another milestone.

Two-time competition winners Benfica stand in the way of those landmark numbers, a club who have only ever made one visit to Anfield in the Champions League though a successful one.

Back in March 2006, the Portuguese outfit stunned the red half of Merseyside with a 2-0 victory in the round of 16 as Liverpool were dumped out of a competition they had won the year before.

Liverpool did win on Benfica’s most recent visit however (April 2010) in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Fernando Torres’ brace contributed to a 4-1 win though El Niño’s former club Atletico Madrid went onto knock the Reds out at the last-four stage on away goals.

Road to Paris

Winners of group B with a 100%-winning record, Liverpool then saw off Inter Milan over two legs in the round of 16 with a 2-1 aggregate victory despite losing 1-0 at Anfield.

Goals in the first leg at the San Siro from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah were enough to set up the last-eight tie against Benfica.

Veríssimo’s side meanwhile finished second in group E, pipping Barcelona to qualification after beating the Spaniards 3-0 at home and earning a vital 0-0 draw at the Nou Camp.

Also known as the Reds in their native country, Benfica then saw off Ajax in the round of 16. After an enthralling 2-2 draw at home in the first leg, a hard-fought 1-0 win away in the Netherlands saw them progress.

Both they and Liverpool already know that qualification on Wednesday night will bring a winnable looking semi-final showdown against Spanish outfit Villareal, who defeated German giants Bayern Munich 2-1 on aggregate following last night’s 1-1 draw at the Allianz Arena.

The final of the competition will then take place on May 28 at the Stade de France in Paris.

Coverage

Prost International reporter Ben Olawumi will cover all the action live from Anfield in the quarter-final second leg with an 8:00pm kick-off scheduled. You can follow him on Twitter – @OlawumiJourno

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