UEFA Championship League London/UNI/Xinhua: Liverpool beat Villareal 2-0 at home on Wednesday in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semifinal.
On Tuesday, Manchester City had beaten Real Madrid in a dramatic 4-3 thriller to take the upper hand in the other semifinal.
Villarreal, who have already beaten Juventus and Bayern Munich in this season's competition, had the better of the game in the first half but failed to score a goal.
Their efforts fell apart in a stroke of two minutes as Villarreal's Pervis Estupian deflected Jordan Henderson's cross into his own net in the 53rd minute, and Liverpool's Sadio Mane made it 2-0 just two minutes later.
The Reds are chasing an unprecedented quadruple this season.
Having already won the League Cup, they are in the FA Cup final and trail Manchester City by one point in the Premier League.
In their game against Real Madrid, City were 2-0 ahead after just 11 minutes as Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring with a header only 92 seconds into the game, and Gabriel Jesus pounced to score the second.
Karim Benzema kept Real Madrid in the game with a 33rd-minute volley, with City leading 2-1 at the break.
Phil Foden restored City's two-goal lead in the 53rd minute, but Real made a quick answer as Vinicius Junior pulled one back again two minutes later.
Bernardo Silva and Benzema each scored in the 74th and 82nd minutes respectively to set the final 4-3 scoreline. The second legs of both ties will be played on May 3 and 4.
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