Once again, Diego Forlan scored Madrid's only goal, dashing Liverpool's chances of ending the season on a positive note. Madrid will take on Fulham in the Europa League final on May 12.
Nine seconds into the game, Benayoun had an amazing opportunity in front of the goal but was blocked by De Egea. In the 16th minute, Aguero decided to try a through pass to Forlan inside the box, which was blocked by Mascherano. Aguero had a tough angle, but should have taken the shot as Mascherano was the only one back. Again, in the 27th minute Aguero blows another opportunity when he gets past Reina but opts to chip it in toward the far post but misses badly. In the 31st minute, Daniel Agger headed one in off a free kick but was ruled offside. I didn't agree with that call and it turned out to cost Liverpool dearly. In the 44th minute, Benayoun delivers a beautiful cross from the right into the box. While Kuyt missed it completely, it fell right into the lap of Aquilani who blazed one into the lower right corner. De Gea had no chance of stopping it. In the 72nd minute, Valera was elbowed in the back of the head by Babel inside his own box which resulted in a brief scuffle. In the 87th minute, Forlan badly mishandled a pass which caught Liverpool's defense offguard, but it bounced off his foot and into the keeper's hands. There was no one between Forlan and the keeper. He would have had a wide open shot.
At the end of 90 minutes, the score was 1-0 Liverpool. But since the first game ended 1-0 Madrid, overtime had to be played to determine who would advance to the final (1-1 aggregate). In the 96th minute, Lucas beautifully chipped one over the head of a Madrid defender into the lane of oncoming Benayoun who slotted it to the right of the keeper and into the goal. In the 101st minute, Jurado fired one just wide of the left post. He should have scored from that distance as Reina had been beaten. In the 102 minute, Glen Johnson is spun around by Reyes who crosses it over to Diego Forlan who, incredibly, is unmarked in front of the goal who fires it into the roof of the net. Liverpool was completely deflated after Forlan's goal. They showed no sign of getting back into the game after that. In the 114th minute, Madrid should have scored again when Forlan fed oncoming Simao right in front of the goal, but shot it over the crossbar.