Liverpool pull off a miraculous comeback to knock Barcelona out
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Liverpool were beaten 3-0 in the first leg by Barcelona at the Nou Camp and no one outside their club gave them a chance of a come back against Lionel Messi and co. We didn’t give them a chance either and we couldn’t have been more wrong. Barcelona were rattled by the aggressive pressing and energy of Liverpool in the return leg. The Spanish side were not just beaten but humiliated at the end.
Messi, on his day, can change matches on his own in the blink of an eye but this was not one of those days. He played the game at walking pace for most of the second half. Vidal and Rakitic were out muscled in the midfield by Henderson and Wijnaldum.
Alba struggled to get his crosses into the box and was also at fault for the first goal. Sergi Roberto switched off when Trent Alexander-Arnold took a quick corner. Apart from Ter Stegen, the entire Barcelona team was poor but to be fair, Liverpool made them look poor on the day.
Salah and Firmino missing the tie turned out to be insignificant as their replacements Origi and Shaqiri were outstanding, especially Origi. Liverpool had a dream start when Alba’s mistimed header was chased by Mane and the Senegalese International played a through ball to Henderson whose shot got parried by Ter Stegen. Divock Origi was at the right place at the right time to tap in the rebound and instigated a comeback.
Lionel Messi came close twice in the first half with his shots missing the right post by a few inches. At the other end of the pitch, Robertson brought a fine save out of Ter Stegen with his powerful shot. Barcelona had a few spells in the first half where they controlled the tempo of the game but in the second half, Liverpool outworked them.
Wijnaldum came on for Robertson who had picked up a knock in the first half and that change was probably for the best from Liverpool’s point of view. The Dutchman would go on to score two goals in the second half.
In the 54th minute, Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross got deflected and came to Wijnaldum who unleased a powerful shot that beat Ter Stegen. The goal-keeper who was Barcelona’s best performer of the night could have done better for this goal but he had no chance of stopping the rest of the goals scored by Liverpool.
A minute later, Wijnaldum was unmarked in the box and the Dutchman scored his second goal of the night with a header and took Liverpool’s tally on the night to three and the aggregate score was now level.
Barcelona had a free-kick in the 66th minute and Messi stepped up but managed to only hit the wall. The ball went out for a corner and they worked out a short corner before playing a lofted ball behind the Liverpool defence. Messi made the run but the angle was tight and his shot was comfortably saved by Alisson.
Around the 80th minute, Liverpool won a corner and Barcelona players switched off as Alexander-Arnold walked to take the corner. The young English defender spotted Origi unmarked in the box and whipped in a hard low cross into the box when a couple of Barcelona defenders had their backs turned. Origi scored and Liverpool were ahead 4-3 on aggregate.
Barcelona didn’t come close to scoring in the second half and were poor by their high standards. It seemed like Barcelona came to Anfield with the mindset the tie was over and when they realized it wasn’t, they didn’t have the desire or energy to grab the crucial away goal. Liverpool held on to the lead and knocked Lionel Messi and Barcelona out of the Champions League. The Merseyside Reds will now play the Champions League final at Madrid.
Will there ever be a better come-back at Anfield? We would not rule the possibility out after witnessing what happened today. Klopp’s men have done the near-impossible.
LosMejor's Editorial Team includes a team of experts who cover the UEFA Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. The Editorial team is headed by Deepak Selvan.
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