Etienne Capoue has described Anfield as the toughest stadium in England ahead of Villarreal’s semi-final clash at on Wednesday night.
Prior to his move to the Spanish side last season, Capoue had played at Anfield may times before through his eight-year spell in England with Tottenham and , and the midfielder doesn’t have the fondest memories of the iconic ground.
‘Anfield is hell, you have to say it how it is. It’s hell,’ the Frenchman told AFP.
‘It’s the worst stadium I’ve been to in England. Whether it’s the atmosphere, the way they play. For 90 minutes, you live in hell.
‘They have this ability to transcend themselves, to cause you nothing but problems, all the time, in any part of the field.
‘They never stop, they rush you all the time, they only want to score goals, and even when they score, they carry on. They want to knock you out.
‘They don’t care what or who is in front of them. They just want to kill everyone and that’s it.’
Villarreal are the surprise team of this year’s competition, having already knocked out Juventus and Bayern Munich, but Liverpool are still heavy favourites to advance to the final, however Capoue claims that won’t affect his side’s mindset ahead of the tie.
‘Winning the Champions League? We never had the audacity to say we could win the Champions League,’ the 33-year-old added.
‘We’re the smallest club in the semi-finals, we were the smallest club in the quarter-finals. We’re just making our merry way. And we have nothing to lose.
‘We’re in the semis which shows we weren’t afraid of Juventus or Bayern. We don’t care, we know we’re underdogs.
‘We’re not a big team but we’re a solid team, playing for the love of football, that wants to enjoy this moment. Because what we’re experiencing is incredible.
‘Nobody will say we’re favourites because we’re not. Who are the other teams? What else can we say about them?
It’s not offending anyone to say there are 50,000 people here [in the city of Villarreal] and in their stadiums alone, they have 70,000 seats. We don’t mind, it’s the truth.’
The winner of the semi-final tie between Liverpool and Villarreal will make it to the final in Paris in May, where they will face either Manchester City or Real Madrid.
The first leg of their tie ended 4-3 to the Premier League side on Tuesday night.
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