Benfica Manager, Nelson Verissimo Makes Liverpool 'Disadvantage' Claim after Barcelona Admission

Benfica coach, Nelson Verissimo believes his side's Champions League fate was sealed against Liverpool after their first-leg defeat in Lisbon last week.

Jurgen Klopp's side booked their place in the semi-final of the European Cup 6-4 on aggregate after a wild 3-3 draw at Anfield on Wednesday night.

The Reds won in the Portuguese capital last week 3-1 to afford Klopp the chance to make seven changes on the night ahead of Saturday's FA Cup semi-final with Manchester City to come.

And Verissimo cursed last week's defeat in Portugal as he reflected on his side's exit at the hands of the six-time European champions.

He said: "This result we didn’t go through in the quarter-finals, we had never got this far in this format of the Champions League. The team had to be proud of what we have done.

"We started with a difficult group, we had Barcelona and the team qualified to the next round which is credit to the players and previous coaching staff.

"We had Ajax in the next round and got through on merit and then we got Liverpool, one of the best teams in the world. We knew it was a very steep mountain. We believed it was possible.

"The result we had at Estadio da Luz meant we started at a big disadvantage. We needed to score before Liverpool and if this happened we could perhaps relax more and make them uncomfortable but the opposite happened.

"Second-half we didn’t start well and conceded two goals from dead-ball situations. It was then a very positive reaction from the team and we had goalscoring opportunities. We had some moments, we scored another two goals and got to 3-3.

"It was a difficult game, all the Benfica fans should be sad we didn’t get to the semi-finals but happy with the campaign."

Liverpool will meet Villarreal in the semi-finals after Unai Emery's men beat Bayern Munich 2-1 on aggregate, while Real Madrid and Man City will contest the other tie.

April 14, 2022