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Europa League draw: Liverpool face Villarreal in semi-finals with champions Sevilla facing Shakhtar Donetsk

Liverpool will travel to Spain for the first leg while Shakhtar Donetsk take on Sevilla

Jack de Menezes

Friday 15 April 2016 11:14 BST

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp celebrates the victory over Borussia Dortmund (Getty)

Liverpool will face Spanish side Villarreal in the semi-finals of the Europa League after avoiding reigning champions Sevilla and Ukrainian heavyweight Shakhtar Donetsk.

Liverpool needed an injury-time winner to see off Borussia Dortmund on Thursday in what turned into one of the most incredible nights ever seen at Anfield. With Liverpool taking an away goal advantage into the match, they were immediately on the back foot as Dortmund took a 2-0 lead in a matter of minutes.

However, Liverpool battled back, and despite going 3-1 down on the night, goals from Mamadou Sakho and Dejan Lovren secured a brilliant comeback victory and ensured that the Reds’ hopes of Europa League success – and subsequent Champions League qualification – alive.

In Villarreal, they face a side currently sitting in fourth in La LIga, behind Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid, and they will pose a difficult challenge to the Reds who will have to travel to the Estadio El Madrigal for the first leg on the 28 April before hosting the second leg at Anfield on 5 May.

Should Liverpool progress to the final, they will have home advantage at FC Basle’s St Jakob Park stadium, and will face the winner of the second semi-final between Shakhtar Donetsk and Sevilla.

Liverpool's greatest comebacks

Show all 6

1/6Liverpool's greatest comebacks

Liverpool's greatest comebacks

Liverpool 3 Everton 1, FA Cup final, 10 May 1986

Not everyone’s automatic choice, given the relatively comfortable scoreline, but when a Gary Lineker goal put Liverpool on the back foot in a Wembley final against their city rivals, a response was needed. It came after half-time through Ian Rush, before Craig Johnston gave the red half of Merseyside the lead. Rush rounded things off seven minutes from time.

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Liverpool's greatest comebacks

Liverpool 3 West Ham United 3 (Liverpool win 3-1 on penalties), FA Cup final, May 13 2006

They said that, just as 1953 was ‘The Matthews Final’, 2006 would be ‘The Gerrard Final’. It has not quite turned out that way but that should not detract from the then-Liverpool captain’s performance, particularly that superb last-minute equaliser – probably, on balance, the best goal of his Anfield career.

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Liverpool's greatest comebacks

Liverpool 3 St Etienne 1, European Cup, 16 March 1977

Needing one against the French champions more to take the tie on aggregate and avoid elimination at the quarter-final stage on away goals, perennial substitute David Fairclough scored the most important goal of his career. Folklore says the noise from Anfield could be heard from three miles away when ‘Super Sub’ sent Bob Paisley’s team on their way to a first European Cup.

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Liverpool's greatest comebacks

Liverpool 4 Newcastle United 3, Premier League, 3 April 1996

Thanks to ‘Collymore closing in…’ and Sky Sports penchant for self-promotion, this game has become the default answer when people ask for the best there’s ever been since the Premier League’s inception. Has there been better since? Maybe, but Martin Tyler’s famous line and that image of Kevin Keegan draping himself over an advertising hoarding like a wet bedsheet on a washing line have rightly become iconic.

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Liverpool's greatest comebacks

Liverpool 3 Olympiakos 1, Champions League, 8 December 2004

Rivaldo’s splendid free-kick just before half-time left Rafael Benitez’s men needing three goals to qualify from the group stage. Two came from unlikely sources – Neil Mellor and Florent Sinama-Pongolle – before the outstanding individual moment of Steven Gerrard’s career made Anfield (and Andy Gray) erupt. Limbs all over the shop.

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Liverpool's greatest comebacks

Liverpool 3 Milan 3 (Liverpool win 3-2 on penalties), Champions League final, 25 May 2005

The greatest night in the club’s storied history. Benitez’s squad could not hold a candle to their 1970s and ‘80s equivalents but led by Steven Gerrard, inspired by Jamie Carragher, held together by Sami Hyypia, strung together by Xabi Alonso and, ultimately, saved by Jerzy Dudek, they emerged victorious from an incredible final. 3-0 at half-time, 3-3 by full-time and you know the rest.

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Liverpool and Villarreal have never met in European competition before, and the Spaniards reached the last four with an impressive 6-3 aggregate victory over Sparta Prague in the quarter-finals.

Sevilla though will prove to be a difficult side to beat for Shakhtar and, if they succeed, Liverpool given the Spanish club are bidding to win the Europa League for a third successive year, a feat that would see them become the first team to do so.

The reigning champions overcame domestic rivals Athletic Bilbao on penalties in the quarter-finals after they were unable to be separated over 210 minutes, but it was a far more straightforward affair for Shakhtar as they despatched Portuguese side Braga 6-1 on aggregate.

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