Liverpool roll over Villarreal to put one foot in Champions League final

Liverpool are on the brink of a third Champions League final in five seasons after breaking Villarreal's resistance to win the first leg of their semi-final 2-0 at Anfield on Wednesday.

Two goals in two minutes undid Villarreal boss Unai Emery's defensive game plan as Pervis Estupinan deflected Jordan Henderson's cross into his own net before Sadio Mane slotted in a second.

The Reds remain on course for an unprecedented quadruple of Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup.

And barring a huge upset when the sides meet again in southern Spain in six days' time, Liverpool's season will finish in Paris on May 28.

The population of Villarreal would fit inside Anfield but the 3,000 travelling support did their best to match the noise of the home support early on.

In stark contrast to the free-flowing thrills of Manchester City's 4-3 win over Real Madrid in the other semi-final on Tuesday, Emery's men followed the same tactic that saw them past Juventus and Bayern Munich by retreating behind the ball.

However, the Yellow Submarine could barely lay a glove on Jurgen Klopp's men as Liverpool just had to bide their time to make their dominance count.

The Reds have now scored 135 goals this season, but were held scoreless in a frustrating first 45 minutes.

Mane headed wide Mohamed Salah's pinpoint cross with the best opening.

The Senegalese also saw a deflected effort fly just wide and Villarreal goalkeeper Geronimo Rulli escaped unpunished with some sloppy handling from a number of speculative efforts.

Another long-range strike was the closest Liverpool came to breaking the deadlock before the break as Thiago Alcantara's sweet strike clipped the post.

The six-time European champions started the second half at a higher tempo