Thanks to his effort against the Portuguese giants, the Mali prospect has now attained a height only achieved by three Reds players
Ibrahima Konate has become the fourth Liverpool player to score in both legs of a Champions League quarter-final fixture, thanks to his effort against Benfica on Wednesday night.
The French youth international of Malian descent had scored in the Reds’ 3-1 triumph over the Eagles in the first leg staged in Lisbon.
In the return leg at Anfield, Konate was also among the goalscorers as Jurgen Klopp’s side threw away a two-goal lead to settle for a 3-3 draw at Anfield.
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With just 21 minutes into the six-goal thriller, the centre-back rose above his markers to head Konstantinos Tsimikas’ corner kick past goalkeeper Odisseas Vlachodimos.
He has now achieved a feat only set by only three Liverpool players in the tournament's history. They include Peter Crouch in 2006-07 (vs PSV), Mohamed Salah in 2017-18 (vs Manchester City) and Roberto Firmino in 2018-19 (vs Porto).
The hosts' lead only lasted for 12 minutes as Goncalo Ramos restored parity for the visitors as both teams went into the half time break with one goal apiece.
Ten minutes into the second half, the Reds regained their lead through Roberto Firmino who was teed up by Diogo Jota
In the 65th minute, the Brazil international completed his double. This time, he was assisted by Tsimikas.
When the hosts thought they were heading to another comprehensive victory, the Primeira Liga side ensured that the encounter ended on a no winner, no vanquished note courtesy of late goals from Roman Yaremchuk and Darwin Nunez.
Even at their brave showing, Benfica crashed out of the competition after a 6-4 aggregate defeat against the six-time European champions.
Alongside former Cameroon international Joel Matip, Konate was on parade from start to finish. Meanwhile, Egyptian superstar Salah was introduced for Jota three minutes before the hour mark, while Sadio Mane was thrown into the fray for Luis Diaz nine minutes later.
In his post-match interview, manager Klopp revelled in reaching his third Champions League semi-final with the English side.
“It's great, absolutely great. It never happened that I take something like this for granted. I'm really, really happy,” the German tactician told the club website.
“That's it pretty much. I said it now a couple of times, I know we will talk about the game and the things that happened.
“The goals we conceded and all of these kinds of things, but on a day when I'm not over the moon about qualifying for the Champions League semi-finals then something is really wrong – maybe it would be the right time just to quit. So, it's all good.”
Liverpool will now challenge La Liga side Villarreal in the semi-final. Prior to that, they tackle Manchester City (FA Cup), Manchester United (Premier League) and Everton (Premier League).