Sport Monterrey to face Liverpool in Club World Cup semis

Liverpool will face Monterrey in their Fifa Club World Cup semi-final after the Mexican side beat Al-Sadd 3-2.

Left-back Leonel Vangioni gave Monterrey the lead with a 35-yard rocket before Rogelio Funes Mori doubled their advantage in first-half stoppage time.

Baghdad Bounedjah pulled one back for Al-Sadd before Carlos Rodriguez restored Monterrey’s two-goal lead.

Abdelkarim Hassan scored a late consolation but Monterrey hung on.

Al-Sadd will now contest the fifth-placed play-off against Esperance Sportive de Tunis on Tuesday (14:30 GMT), while Monterrey will face runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool in a semi-final on Wednesday (17:30).

Brazil’s Flamengo will face Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal in the other semi-final on Tuesday (17:30).

What can Liverpool expect from Monterrey?

Monterrey qualified for the Club World Cup as they were crowned champions of the Concacaf Champions League (for sides from North America, Central America and the Caribbean) for the fourth time.

They’ve also been Mexican champions on four occasions.

They played free-flowing, attacking football and looked threatening going forward, albeit against a shaky Al-Sadd defence.

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The twin-brother of ex-Everton defender Ramiro Funes Mori, Rogelio looked a good player and took his goal well and may cause Liverpool problems.

Defensively, they were much weaker and Al-Sadd, in addition to scoring twice, cut them open and were guilty of missing some gilt-edged chances – the sort you would expect Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino to take.

It is a game Liverpool should and will expect to win.

You can watch every match from the tournament live on iPlayer and the BBC Sport website, with Liverpool’s games on BBC Two.

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