Benfica is an excellent team, but Liverpool are better. The Reds shared six goals with the Portuguese entertainers at Anfield and made it into the UEFA Champions League last four thanks to their 3-1 first-leg success.Roberto Firmino scored a double and Ibrahima Konate continued his unlikely goalscoring run in European competition to put the English club in the driving seat, but their never-say-die opponents fought majestically and bowed out of the competition with a respectable 3-3 draw in England.Matches at this stage of any important tournament are usually tactical battles that offer precious little to excite. But there are exceptions – like this match in Liverpool.Benfica knew that they don’t have time to waste and that they were only going to qualify if they score. Their hosts, meanwhile, were under no pressure following the last week’s result that allowed the Reds to play freely and wait for the visitors to leave them a bit of space by going forward.The opening goal had nothing to do with open spaces, though. It was a product of terrible marking at a Liverpool corner. With three defenders allegedly marking him, Konate repeated the trick from last week and scored a towering header to give the Anfield crowd something to cheer about.Luis Diaz had a chance to double the lead after making a couple of defenders look silly, but his strong shot was just pushed away by goalkeeper Odysseas Vlachodimos.The Portuguese team has to be congratulated for never giving up, despite going three behind on aggregate. They used every opportunity to mount an attacking move. Their in-form striker Darwin Nunez thought he’d made it 1-1 on the night after he applied a classy finish over Alisson, but the goal didn’t stand because the Uruguayan was just offside.𝗜𝗡𝗧𝗢 𝗧𝗛𝗘 #UCL 𝗦𝗘𝗠𝗜-𝗙𝗜𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗦 𝗪𝗘 𝗚𝗢! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/GxPPrYb6xq— Liverpool FC (@LFC) April 13, 2022 However, the Eagles’ efforts paid off when Goncalo Ramos controlled a ball, turned and dispatched a sumptuous shot into the corner, leaving Alisson helpless.But all hopes for a Benfica comeback were killed off by Roberto Firmino, who evaded an offside trap and tucked a Diego Jota left-hand side cross into the net, making it 2-1 on the night and 5-2 overall.Everything that was to follow was just an exhibition of attacking football on both ends of the pitch.Firmino got another goal from a pinpoint Kostas Tsimikas cross as Klopp brought on Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah as impact subs.Roman Yaremchuk stayed onside and rounded Alisson to slot home with 20 minutes remaining as the Benfica fans celebrated wildly as if it was their team that was winning. It was lovely to see. Their team was ending their European adventure, but they were determined to go out in style.Goal n. 32 for Darwin Núñez this season. He’s prepared to leave in the summer, price tag around €75/80m and there’s a new agent now working to move him in June. 🔴🇺🇾 #UCLCredit to Benfica as they refused €45m in January to keep Darwin.And he’s still 22, not a detail. pic.twitter.com/GZePGufvme— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 13, 2022 Darwin, who is easily one of the top three strikers in the world at the moment, scored with another awesome finish ten minutes from time to make it 3-3 and give the away fans a victory of sorts. They may have ended this season’s participation in the Champions League, but We haven’t heard the last from this team. The Uruguayan hitman thought he’s scored a late winner, but he was offside for the umptieth time tonight.The final whistle brought huge cheers from the home fans and questions of what might have been if only Benfica’s defence were nearly as good as their attack.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUEQuarter-final, second legTuesdayReal Madrid – Chelsea 2-3 (0-1) /first leg 3-1//Mount 15, Ruddiger 51, Werner 75 – Rodrygo 80, Benzema 96/Bayern – Villareal 1-1 (0-0) /first leg 0-1//Lewandowski 52 – Chukwueze 88/WednesdayAtletico – Manchester City 0-0 /first leg 0-1/Liverpool – Benfica 3-3 (1-1) /first leg 3-1//Konate 21, Firmino 55, 65 – Ramos 32, Yaremchuk 72, Nunez 82/
