Jurgen Klopp said reaching a third Champions League final in five years with Liverpool felt just as special as the first after his team saw off a spirited fightback from Villarreal on Tuesday to keep its quadruple hopes alive.

The Reds won 3-2 on the night and 5-2 on aggregate.

"It feels like the first final because it's always so special－it's the best club competition in the world," Klopp said. "Respect to Villarreal. Wonderful stadium and what they are doing here is incredible. It feels so special because it was so difficult for us.

"It was massive from the boys. Before the game I said I'd like to read the headlines that the mentality monsters were in town. I didn't want us to defend the result but go for the win, and the second half was like this."

Liverpool will await the winner of the second semifinal between Real Madrid and Manchester City.

"To be in a final is never easy and to make this a third in five years is incredible from this group of boys," Liverpool's Scottish defender Andy Robertson said. "As fans and players, we should never take a day like this for granted."

Either City or Madrid will likely offer a sterner test than Villarreal, but after a chastening experience at Anfield last week, Unai Emery's side delivered a spirited performance that rattled Liverpool and showed why the Spanish side managed to upset the odds and knock out Juventus and Bayern Munich to reach the semifinals.

"I have no regrets," said Emery. "We have learned how to compete with the best teams. There were some answers we just couldn't find."

Liverpool was careless, perhaps complacent even, in the first half but sensational in the second.

Colombia international Diaz, who started on the bench, was integral to the fightback, and may soon have to be an automatic starter for Klopp.

"He's been special," said Robertson. "The talent he has, the will he has to win. He fits us perfectly. He made a big difference."

AFP