Liverpool's Klopp wary of 'King of the Cups' Emery in Champions League semi-final

Red drew 3-3 with Benfica in their quarter-final second leg to advance 6-4 on aggregate

Ibrahima Konate celebrates opening the scoring in Liverpool's 3-3 draw against Benfica in the Champions League quarter-final 2nd leg at Anfield. Liverpool won 6-4 on aggregate. PA

Benfica's Portuguese forward Goncalo Ramos levels the scores. AFP

Liverpool's Roberto Firmino celebrates the third goal. Getty

Ramos celebrates his goal at Anfield. EPA

Konate celebrates with teammate Kostas Tsimikas. EPA

Roberto Firmino after scoring Liverpool's second. Getty

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp watches the action. EPA

Roberto Firmino celebrates with Luis Diaz (L) and Joe Gomez after scoring the second goal. AFP

Roberto Firmino celebrates with Kostas Tsimikas after scoring the third goal. Getty

Roman Yaremchuk scores Benfica's second goal. EPA

Darwin Nunez levelled the scores at 3-3 on the night. AP

Jurgen Klopp says he is wary of facing a man he dubbed "King of Cups" when his Liverpool face Unai Emery's Villarreal in the semi-finals of the Champions League.

Liverpool drew 3-3 with Benfica in their quarter-final second leg on Wednesday to go through to the last four with a 6-4 aggregate scoreline.

The win sets up a meeting with Villarreal, who pulled off a shock victory over Bayern Munich in the last eight.

"I saw the results, the game was very impressive. I only picked up pieces but to beat Juventus and Bayern Munich they deserve to be in the Champions League semi-finals," said Klopp.

"Unai Emery is the king of the cups, it is unbelievable what he is doing. But give me a bit of time to prepare it properly," he added with a grin.

Emery's sobriquet is well earned. The Spaniard is a three-time Europa League winner with Sevilla and triumphed in the same competition with Villarreal last season - the club's first major trophy - having also guided Arsenal to the 2019 final. He also collected four domestic cups during a two-year stint at Paris Saint-Germain.

Klopp was happy to overlook Liverpool's shortcomings against Benfica where as well as conceding three goals they also saw two efforts from the visitors ruled out for offside.

Liverpool v Benfica ratings

Liverpool's defence, featuring Ibrahima Konate and Joel Matip in the middle and Joe Gomez and Kostas Tsimikas at fullback, was opened up with some ease by the Portuguese side but Klopp said that was understandable.

"The day we qualify for the Champions League semi-final and I'm not happy please come and knock me out," he said.

"We made seven changes. The situation was the last line had never played together and it was about details, staying 100 per cent concentrated.

"It was not exactly what we wanted but it is absolutely not important because if we played the best game of the season tonight it wouldn't have made it more likely to get to the final. We are through and that's all that matters and I'm really happy."

Liverpool's quest for an unprecedented quadruple continues on Saturday when they take on Manchester City, who booked their place in the last four of Europe's premier competition with a 1-0 aggregate win over Atletico Madrid, in the FA Cup semi-finals.