Liverpool reach first European final in nine years

Liverpool reached their first European final for nine years with a comprehensive 3-0 win over a 10-man Villarreal side who lost their heads in the red-hot cauldron of Anfield.

The Spanish side are not the first side to succumb to the almost magical powers of the famous old ground and they will probably not be the last.

But having arrived with a reputation for defensive discipline they were overcome in this Europa League semi-final second leg by whirling dervishes with a renewed hunger for silverware and a wall of noise rolling down off the Kop.