Liverpool get the better of Benfica with goals from Ibrahima Konate, Sadio Mane, and Luis Diaz as they head into the second leg at Anfield.
Liverpool beat Benfica 1-3 with goals from Ibrahim Konate, Sadio Mane, and Luis Diaz, while Darwin Nunez scored the only goal for the hosts.
Jurgen Klopp’s side took the lead earlier in the first half and it wasn’t long before Mane doubled it. However, it was Trent Alexander-Arnold’s inch-perfect pass to Diaz over the defence who crossed a spectacular header to Mane, who didn’t miss putting the ball in the back of the net.
Benfica tried hard to create problems for Liverpool, and the Reds did look a bit out of sorts in the first 25 minutes of the second half. It didn’t take long for the hosts to capitalize and Nunez fired home after Konate fumbled his clearance.
Liverpool struggled to find their “vibe” from the first half, but the third goal did eventually come as Diaz skipped past Vlachodimos and scored in the 87th minute, indifferent to the boos from the home crowd.
Player Ratings
Benfica: Vlachodimos (5); Gilberto (5), Otamendi (6), Vertonghen (5), Grimaldo (5); Weigl (6), Taarabt (5); Rafa (5), Ramos (5), Everton (6); Nunez (7).
Subs: Leite (N/A), Meite (5), Seferovic (N/A), Yaremchuk (5), Goncalves (N/A), Mario (N/A), Lazaro (N/A), Radonjic (N/A), Dias (N/A), Almeida (N/A), Bernardo (N/A), Morato (N/A).
Liverpool: Alisson (7); Alexander-Arnold (8), Konate (8), Van Dijk (7), Robertson (7); Fabinho (7), Keita (8), Thiago (7); Salah (7), Mane (8), Diaz (8).
Subs: Kelleher (N/A), Matip (N/A), Gomez (N/A), Tsimikas (N/A), Milner (N/A), Henderson (7), Oxlade-Chamberlain (N/A), Jones (N/A), Elliott (N/A), Minamino (N/A), Firmino (6), Jota (6).
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