Salah and Firmino send Liverpool into last four

Thursday, 12 April 2018 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

MANCHESTER, England (Reuters): Liverpool reached the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in 10 years as Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino struck decisive blows to secure a 2-1 win over Manchester City on Tuesday that completed a 5-1 aggregate victory.

Trailing 3-0 from the first-leg City manager Pep Guardiola had said his team needed to produce a “perfect game” at the Etihad Stadium if they were to achieve a famous comeback and for 45 minutes they were not far off that level.

Yet it was Liverpool whose approach turned out to be perfect in the circumstances as they followed up some staunch first-half defending to level through Salah in the 56th minute and seal the tie through Firmino 13 minutes from fulltime, clinching their third win against City this season.

“It was quite difficult tonight, especially with the start,” said Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp.

“This wonderful goal that we served them on a plate. I was expecting something like that but I liked the reaction immediately after that. They could’ve scored two or three goals in the first half but it was 100 percent clear that if we win the ball we’d have an opportunity.”