Liverpool will line up in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals for the third time in five seasons after Roberto Firmino’s second-half double all but wrapped up an aggregate triumph before Benfica hit back to remove some of the gloss. Next up: Villarreal.

A much-changed Liverpool side were slow to get into this quarter-final second leg, but looked almost home and dry when Ibrahima Konaté headed in his second goal of the tie midway through the first half.

The Reds sought to make sure, with Benfica struggling to contain them at times, but the visitors weathered the storm and hit back when Gonçalo Ramos made the most of a fortuitous ricochet.

Liverpool regained control, even if nerves still jangled faintly until Firmino twice tapped in at the far post in the space of 11 second-half minutes. The Reds led 6-2 on aggregate – surely they were done now?

Still, Benfica delighted the travelling fans by staging a fine recovery to draw on the night, Roman Yaremchuk and Darwin Núñez pulling it back to 6-4 before it took a fantastic save from Alisson Becker to deny Darwin another. Liverpool had already done the hard work, though.

UEFA