Liverpool FC crest
Liverpool FC

Keita (12), Firmino (90)

FT
2 - 1
FIFA Club World Cup
17:30 Wed 18th Dec 2019
Location: Khalifa International Stadium
CF Monterrey crest
CF Monterrey

Funes Mori (14)

17:30 Wed 18th Dec 2019
17:30 Wed 18th Dec 2019 Khalifa International Stadium

FIFA Club World Cup semi-final live blog

Liverpool reached the final of the FIFA Club World Cup after Roberto Firmino's late strike secured a 2-1 victory over Mexican side Monterrey in Doha.

Post-match

'I had great people around me'

The captain has been speaking at his outing in the heart of the defence.

Henderson told BBC Sport: "It was a bit different! But I just tried to do my best in that position, I had great people around me – Robbo and Joe were talking to me all the time. 

“The most important thing was the win [and] we defended pretty well for the majority of the game. We would have liked to have scored another couple of goals, but overall I think we’ve got to be delighted with the way things went in the end.”

Full Time

Liverpool 2-1 Monterrey

Liverpool advance to the final of the FIFA Club World Cup after Roberto Firmino's 90th-minute goal here in Doha. 

Two substitutes combined late on as Trent Alexander-Arnold's cross found Firmino in the box to finish and secure the Reds' spot in Saturday's showpiece with Flamengo.

Naby Keita had given Jürgen Klopp's side the lead in the first half before a Rogelio Funes Mori goal two minutes later restored parity.

90

Goal

GOAL!!!!!!! Bobby!!!!!

What an impact from the Brazilian.

Salah has the ball near the right touchline, laying the ball off for fellow substitute Alexander-Arnold.

The No.66 drills a ball into the box and Firmino is there at the near post to tuck it away.

85

Substitution

Firmino now replaces Origi in the Reds' third alteration.

81

Mane finds a bit of space on the edge of the box, hitting a powerful effort that's caught by the Monterrey stopper. 

78

Yellow Card

Another booking as Gallardo cynically brings down Oxlade-Chamberlain. 

76

Yellow Card

Both managers have just been given a yellow card by the referee. 

75

Substitution

Liverpool's second substitution is Alexander-Arnold on for Milner.

74

Oxlade-Chamberlain plays a nice reverse pass to release Milner on the left. He crosses and finds Origi in the box, but the finish is scuffed and bounces wide.  

72

Alisson saves again – this time pushing out Pizarro's effort near Liverpool's left touchline.

71

Henderson rises to meet Milner's corner, but the header flashes wide.

68

Substitution

The Reds' first change of the evening sees Mane come on for Shaqiri.

68

Funes Mori tries to bend one in from distance, but Alisson is alert to divert it for a corner. Montes heads over from the resulting set-piece.

66

Pizarro nearly gets on the end of a threatening cross from the right as Pabon then fires well wide.

62

Disallowed Goal

Origi puts the ball in the net after Lallana heads Milner's corner back towards goal. However, the flag is raised for offside and the goal is chalked off. 

60

Oxlade-Chamberlain drags an effort wide after carrying the ball forward.

58

Keita displays some nifty footwork inside the box. However, his shot towards goal is straight at Barovero.

Monterrey clear by punting the ball forward, which sees Gomez booked for pulling down Funes Mori. 

50

Pabon's whipped free-kick needs strong hands from Alisson to keep it out. The goalkeeper then catches another effort from the Monterrey skipper moments later. 

48

Origi's cross finds Salah at the near post, but the Egyptian can't control it fully. The ball runs out to Lallana, who hits a powerful effort over the bar.

47

Yellow Card

Vangioni goes into the book for a late foul on Shaqiri.

46

Kick-Off

Salah gets the second half started. 

Come on, lads!

45

Half Time

Liverpool 1-1 Monterrey

It's even at the break here in Doha. Naby Keita opened the scoring inside the opening quarter of an hour after a brilliant assist from Mohamed Salah.

But Monterrey responded quickly through Rogelio Funes Moro as both sides then went on to have chances to add to the scoreline in the rest of the half.

45

There'll be one minute of additional time in the first half... 

43

Oxlade-Chamberlain cleverly slips Keita in inside the box, but Barovero is out before the No.8 can get a shot off. 

37

Monterrey break and Pabon is once again advancing towards Liverpool's goal. He's got Funes Mori for support in the box and tries to find him with a drilled cross.

It looks to be heading Funes Mori's way, only for Alisson to push the cross out just enough to divert it away from the striker. 

34

Salah pinches possession off Sanchez and looks to be through on goal. However, the centre-half redeems himself by making a perfect recovery challenge. 

30

Gallardo decides to hit one, but it goes comfortably over Alisson's crossbar. 

27

Great save, Ali!

Pabon drives towards Liverpool's goal with intent and strikes an effort from distance near thr right-hand side of the penalty area.

It looks like it's heading into the far corner, though Alisson is outstreched to palm it away. 

23

A neat backheel from Salah finds Milner near the right touchline. The vice-captain shoots from a tight angle, but it's stopped by Barovero. The rebound ricochets off the Liverpool player before being claimed by the goalkeeper. 

14

Goal

Goal for Monterrey – Funes Mori

The Reds fail to clear a free-kick properly and the ball is kept alive by Monterrey. Gallardo gets a shot away at goal that's parried out Alisson, with Funes More converting the rebound.

Liverpool 1-1 Monterrey

12

Goal

NABY!!!

Get in! The midfielder calmly slots beyond Barovero after his run into the Monterrey penalty area.

He was found by an absolutely exquisite, defence-splitting pass from Salah, who threaded the ball perfectly into the No.8's path.

Liverpool 1-0 Monterrey

7

Gomez looks to find the surging run of Oxlade-Chamberlain, but overhits the pass and the ball runs comfortably to the goalkeeper. 

4

Shaqiri picks up the ball on the edge of the box before unleashing a shot that goes well wide.

1

Kick-Off

Monterrey get us underway. 

Come on, Liverpool!

Pre-match

As the teamsheet hinted at, it looks like Henderson is operating as a centre-back this evening, with Milner out at right-back.

Pre-match

The teams emerge out of the tunnel to a cracking atmosphere. Kick-off is just moments away...

Pre-match

Here's how our opponents line up this evening...

Monterrey: Barovero, Medina, Montes, Sanchez, Vangioni, Ortiz, Rodriguez, Pizzaro, Pabon, Gallardo, Funes Mori.

Pre-match

Inside the Liverpool dressing room...

Pre-match

TEAM NEWS

Liverpool’s starting line-up for their FIFA Club World Cup semi-final with Monterrey is in and sees Divock Origi leading the attack alongside Mohamed Salah and Xherdan Shaqiri, but Virgil van Dijk misses out due to illness.

Liverpool: Alisson, Milner, Gomez, Henderson, Robertson, Lallana, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Shaqiri, Salah, Origi.

Subs: Adrian, Lonergan, Firmino, Mane, Jones, Alexander-Arnold, Williams.

Pre-match

Today's venue... 

Pre-match

Rule reminder

This evening's match will head to extra-time if scores are level after 90 minutes and then potentially a penalty shootout. VAR is also in operation.

Pre-match

In the other semi-final... 

Flamengo produced a come-from-behind 3-1 victory over Al Hilal last night to progress to Saturday's final.

Having gone a goal down after 18 minutes, Giorgian de Arrascaeta levelled shortly after half-time before Bruno Henrique edged the Brazilians in front late on. An own goal put the game beyond Al Hilal.

Pre-match

Behind the scenes in Qatar

Our photographer was recently with the players in the team hotel and provided a behind-the-scenes gallery of their downtime...

Pre-match

Stat attack

  • Today will see Liverpool play on consecutive days for the 104th time in their history.
  • The Reds have played in three finals of the Club World Cup and its previous guises - the Intercontinental Cup and Club World Championship.
  • Naby Keita has scored five goals in his last 12 starts for the Reds. He could score in a third successive Liverpool appearance for the first time.
  • Sadio Mane has scored 30 goals for Liverpool so far in 2019. He is one of only 11 Liverpool players to achieve the feat and it is only the 17th time in the club's history the landmark has been achieved. 
Pre-match

Divock on Club World Cup ambitions

Divock Origi feels the levels Liverpool have been training at while in Qatar indicates the collective hunger to win the competition.

He told Liverpoolfc.com: “For me, it’s obviously the first time in this tournament – and for a lot of the guys the first time.

“I think it’s a very prestigious tournament. It’s hard to get here, you have to win the Champions League and it’s something we can be proud of. Playing the semis and hopefully going to the finals will be a big goal for us. We’re all very hungry.

“We’ve just travelled and you can see in training already that we’re all very hungry to play that game. We’ll prepare for the best possible result.”

Pre-match

How we qualified for the CWC

In case you need any reminding how we booked our spot in this competition, check out the video below...

Pre-match

'We came to compete strongly'

That's the message from Rayados boss Antonio Mohamed as he prepares to face the champions of Europe.

Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday, Mohamed said: "We have a big ambition to play against Liverpool and we came to compete strongly at this mega-tournament.

“Jürgen Klopp is one of the best managers and Liverpool is maybe the best team in the world right now.

“We have made a huge effort to reach this stage and have come to compete irrespective of which team or manager we are facing.

“We came here to play and win the match with our weapons. We didn’t come to participate in this tournament and let Liverpool win against us. Nothing is impossible in football.”

Pre-match

Training time

Liverpool prepared for the game with another training session on Tuesday evening – check out 40 snaps from the workout below...

Pre-match

Did you know?

James Milner could make his 200th appearance for Liverpool today.

Pre-match

Team news

Georginio Wijnaldum will be forced to sit out the Monterrey clash, although the muscle injury he sustained against Watford is not as serious as first thought. Virgil van Dijk is fit to feature in Doha, despite not training with the team on Monday.

Dejan Lovren, Joel Matip and Fabinho are all out and haven't travelled to Qatar.

For Monterrey, injury means they will continue to be without former Tottenham Hotspur striker Vincent Janssen. Winger Aviles Hurtado remains a long-term absentee after rupturing his Achilles tendon back in September.

Pre-match

Young Reds in action

The club's commitments in the Club World Cup meant Neil Critchley led a youthful side to play the Carabao Cup quarter-final at Aston Villa.

Critchley was left 'incredibly proud' of his players for their bravery in the 5-0 defeat. Watch his post-match press conference below...

Pre-match

View from Monterrey

Want to know more about this evening's opponents? We spoke to ESPN FC's Mexican football correspondent Tom Marshall to gather some insight. Click here to see what he had to say.

Pre-match

'We always want to be a part of history of this club'

Joe Gomez is seeking to create another chapter of Liverpool folklore, having gathered a taste for lifting silverware in June.

Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com from the team hotel in Doha, the No.12 said: "The chance to do so, considering it's not been won before, is a big thing for us.

"That being said, we're obviously very motivated to try to win this. I think [winning the Champions League] only made us hungrier.

"It is a habit we want to keep and try to make it a consistent part of our season that we come away with some silverware. Hopefully we can do that."

Pre-match

Inside Qatar

The Reds arrived in the Middle East on Sunday and we've documented their trip so far, which you can watch in the video below...

Pre-match

Greetings from Qatar!

Liverpool kick off their FIFA Club World Cup campaign this evening as they take on Mexican side Monterrey in the semi-finals.

Brazilian outfit Flamengo await the winner in the tournament showpiece on the weekend as the Reds look to lift the trophy for the very first time.

Stay right here throughout the day as we bring you the best of the build-up, action and reaction from the Khalifa International Stadium in Doha.