Liverpool played out an entertaining 3-3 draw with Aston Villa in their penultimate game of the season on Monday.
The Reds have nothing left to play for heading into the campaign’s finale on Sunday. In truth, that showed at times against Villa.
With the home side still pushing for an impressive Champions League finish, it was always going to be tricky for Liverpool. In the end, they battled well and should have won. Sloppy mistakes meant they took just a point home, though.
Having seen their team turn a win into a draw, it might have been hard for Liverpool fans to see the positives. They were there though, not least in the performance of young Jarell Quansah. Jamie Carragher even compared the centre-back to Cristiano Ronaldo after his first Premier League goal.
Another to give Liverpool some love was Villa manager Unai Emery. The 52-year-old hailed what he’d seen from the Reds in his post-match press conference.
What did Unai Emery say about Liverpool
Jurgen Klopp may perhaps be happy to see the back of Emery. Although the Liverpool manager’s record against his Spanish counterpart is actually very good, Emery was the man who prevented him from completing his trophy set at Anfield.
The now Villa boss was in charge of Sevilla as they beat Liverpool in the Europa League final back in 2016.
Since then, Klopp is actually unbeaten against Emery, though. He took the Reds to a Champions League final at the former Villarreal manager’s expense in 2022 and has got the better of him at Arsenal and Villa, too.
And judging from his words after the game, Emery has nothing but respect for the way Liverpool play under Jurgen.
“We played matching Liverpool. Congratulations to them because they played very honestly and competed very well,” he said.
“We competed very well even though we played more chaotic than usual when we needed to exploit our emotions with our supporters and try to push with everything.”
Aston Villa fans wave off Jurgen Klopp
Emery seemingly wasn’t the only one of a non-Liverpool persuasion to feel the love last night.
With it being the occasion of Klopp’s last away game in charge of the Reds, it was always going to be slightly emotional at Villa Park.
You could see in the way the German spent a moment with the travelling Kop at the end of the game just what it all meant to him.
But it wasn’t just the Liverpool supporters who were cheering for Jurgen. Aware that they were witnessing the goodbye of a legendary manager, Villa supporters were seen applauding and waving Klopp from the pitch.
In truth, we didn’t think it was Liverpool’s best game on Monday. But as Emery and his team’s fans showed, they shouldn’t be too downbeat about their display.