In the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals on Tuesday, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool team cruised to a 3-1 victory away at Benfica.
By halftime, Liverpool led 2-0 after to goals from Ibrahima Konaté and Sadio Mané. However, Darwin Nez scored five minutes into the second half to give Benfica hope.
With only three minutes left, though, Luis Daz scored his first goal in the Champions League for his new team, thereby ending the game and the tie.
Klopp said in the postgame press conference that Liverpool’s progress to the semifinals is far from assured.
We’re at halftime, and he added, “the tie is not closed.” At halftime today, we realised that we couldn’t finish.
We probably shouldn’t have allowed them get back into it, but hey, that’s football, they deserved it, and we’re cool with it.
What FA Cup Wins Means For European Qualification
The UEFA Europa League champion qualifies for the following season’s group stage (UEL). If Liverpool were to win the FA Cup, they would move up to the UEL.
And into the sixth place in the Premier League, guaranteeing themselves a top-four finish and a Champions League berth.
Manchester United is currently in sixth place, but West Ham United will pass them if they win their final two games and return to the competition in which they reached the semifinals this season.
What About the UEFA Conference League?
When Liverpool beat Chelsea in the EFL Cup final on penalties in February, they advanced to the postseason.
However, the Premier League’s seventh-place team receives this UEFA Europa Conference League (UECL) berth rather than the top four teams.
Wolverhampton Wanderers, now in eighth position, have a chance to advance if they beat Norwich City at home on Sunday and West Ham fail to overcome Manchester City.
Conclusion
After losing the final to Real Madrid on a chaotic night at the Stade de France, the Reds quickly returned to European activity in an attempt to set a club record by winning seven straight European road games.
Liverpool’s shaky Premier League record carried over to their Champions League opening on Wednesday.
And the Reds were lucky to be down by only three goals to Luciano Spalletti’s dynamic, revamped Napoli at the break.
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