Jurgen Klopp hails Villarreal manager Unai Emery as the ‘king of the cups’ as Liverpool book semi-final spot

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hailed Villarreal boss Unai Emery as the “king of the cups” after his side set up a Champions League semi-final meeting with the La Liga outfit.

Klopp opted to make seven changes to the side who drew with Manchester City on Sunday and watched his supporting cast play out a thrilling 3-3 draw with Benfica at Anfield.

Ibrahima Konate and a Robert Firmino brace saw Liverpool progress by two goals on aggregate but few would doubt Benfica made it difficult on the night.

Villarreal themselves pulled off a shock by beating Bayern Munich on Tuesday evening, their second big scalp of the competition on the spin following a win over Juventus in the round-of-16.

Gallery: Premier League cast-offs who went on to win the Champions League elsewhere (FourFourTwo)

Those results are just the latest in a long line of successful European nights for Emery, who beat Klopp’s Liverpool while Sevilla manager in the Europa League final of 2015/16. In total, the fomer Arsenal boss has lifted that trophy four times.

Speaking after the win at Anfield, Klopp said to BT Sport: “If I could do an analysis of Villarreal right now that would be very strange. I saw the results, the game was very impressive.

“I only picked up pieces but to beat Juventus and Bayern Munich they deserve to be in the Champions League semi-finals. Unai Emery is the king of the cups, it is unbelievable what he is doing. But give me a bit of time to prepare it properly.”

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