Villarreal gave Liverpool a real scare for 45 minutes on Tuesday night, but Jason Cundy claimed it simply proved him right about the Spanish side.
Last week, Villarreal did not take a single shot on goal in their Champions League semi-final first leg with Liverpool, as Unai Emery’s side tried to prevent the heavy favorites from gaining too great an advantage.
The fact that they had beaten Juventus and Bayern Munich to reach that stage of the tournament was apparently not a big enough clue to the former Chelsea player that they deserved to be in the final four.
Instead, the 52-year-old claimed his eventual fall was proof that he was right all along, seemingly ignoring the fact that a team the size of Villarreal had just gone toe-to-toe with arguably the best team on the planet.
😳 “They were up 2-0 at halftime! They lost 3-2 and sent off a man?
👀 “Somehow they managed to make it to the semi-final, to their credit…”
🗣 “That second half performance tells me that what I said was 100% correct.”
Jason Cundy participates in Villarreal’s semi-final presentation 🔥 pic.twitter.com/uXj4EZE6WY
– talk about SPORTS (@talkSPORTS) May 3, 2022
“they stumbled on their way”. The word you’re looking for is “score more goals than the other team on multiple occasions”, then battle valiantly against one of the best teams in the world, only to be defeated in the last half hour of the tie.
— Elliot (@bwfc_elliot) May 3, 2022
At the end of the day, they deserved to be there, they beat everyone they faced until it was too much for them.
I respect Villarreal.
— KopEndTV (@KopEndTV) May 3, 2022
“They groped their way to a semi-final”
As a friend, they beat Juventus in two games, including a victory in Turin,
Win over Bayern Munich in two games
and literally made one of the best teams in the world look average for 47 minutes.— Joshua Jack (@JoshuaJ52094749) May 4, 2022
It tells you that Villarreal, like 99% of the world’s football teams, couldn’t maintain that level of intensity for the full 90 minutes against this relentless Liverpool.
— 🎶Since 1995🎶 (@theanfieldread) May 3, 2022
What’s wrong with just congratulating them on what an amazing year they had? EL won beating Arsenal, United. 1/2 final in CL beating Juventus and Bayern Munich! It is a huge, historic and incredible achievement for Villarreal and its fans. clap your hands
— Petar Zanev 🇧🇬 (@FrAn4eSc0) May 3, 2022
Usual Candy nonsense, Villarreal made it to the semi-final because they deserved it, knocking out two massive clubs along the way with a fraction of the budget of most other clubs. It’s actually a nice change to see a different team in the semifinals for a change.
— Jamie_d (@jamied28) May 4, 2022
Probably the only thing that’s an embarrassment to the Champions League is that Cundy is able to share her views with such a large audience, considering how terrible they are, even though there’s no doubt she knows exactly what she’s doing.
Villarreal have a smaller budget than Burnley and, with what can really only be described as a bunch of Premier League rejections, won the Europa League and reached the Champions League semi-finals.
It was no surprise that Liverpool came from behind to win the match, although things were made easier for them thanks to Geronimo Rulli.
However, it’s not that other teams haven’t had similar comebacks in the competition, this year PSG lost to Real Madrid a clear 2-0 in the second half of their round of 16, thanks to a 17-minute hat-trick. by Karim Benzema.
Cundy isn’t exactly targeting the French team for being a “disgrace” even though they are much closer to Real Madrid than Liverpool’s Villarreal in terms of perceived talent and level.
Fortunately, most of the fans are on the side of the Spanish team, who gave us incredible nights in Europe this season and defied all odds.