Liverpool have done the unthinkable and defeated Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate after an incredible comeback! After losing 3-0 at the Camp Nou, I believed Liverpool had no chance of making it to the final because one man only: Lionel Messi. After injuries to Salah to Firmino causing them to miss the game, I surely didn’t expect them to comeback. Origi and Shaqiri did an excellent job replacing the two star forwards, with Origi scoring an early goal and the winner, and Shaqiri getting a vital assist.
Liverpool definitely deserve to go to the UCL final after eliminating both Bayern Munich and Barcelona, two favorites to win the UCL in the start of the season. Not only that but they also were capable to get through the group of death with PSG and Napoli in the last game of the season in a necessary win versus Napoli. After losing the final last year due to two goalkeeper errors and Salah’s early injury, Klopp and his men were chasing for redemption this year. I find it a shame that Liverpool might not win the league this year after losing only 1 game this season and possibly getting 97 points, but I would rather have my team win the Champions League over the Premier League. After three years in charge, Jurgen Klopp has completely changed this Liverpool team from being a mid table team, to a team who reached back-to-back UCL finals. I believe with this extraordinary transformation he’s made with this team, they deserve to win a trophy and what better trophy to win than the UCL.
This game shows that the problem with Barcelona in the UCL since their triumph in 2015 is their away form. The Catalonian side away form since 2016 has looked like this: Atletico Madrid 2-1, PSG 4-0, Juventus 3-0, Roma 3-0, and Liverpool 4-0. For a club of Barcelona’s stature, it’s a complete disgrace. I did think they were going to win the UCL this year but as I said earlier, if they did it would be because they have Messi. Their squad this season hasn’t been the best, with multiple games this season when Messi is supposed to be rested is forced to come off the bench to get them the results. I think at the end of the season Ernesto Valverde will be sacked from being their manager, with Barcelona fans only wanting one trophy to win in the UCL. He started off his tenure as the Barcelona boss trying to take away the 4-3-3 formation that suited the tiki-taka syle perfectly to the 4-4-2 formation.
His substitutions this game were also pretty awful, losing 3-0 and decides to take attacking midfielder Coutinho off for a right back. He switched to the 4-2-2 formation but how did he plan to give any service to Messi and Suarez? He had Vidal and Busquets in the middle with Rakitic and Roberto out wide, I know Coutinho wasn’t doing well but to take him out for a defender was a terrible idea. Coutinho was playing incredible as a CAM at Liverpool behind their front three, being the reason why Barcelona went to sign him. He then plays him at left wing where as shown the past season and a half, he doesn’t suit to the position. It’s not until the 80th minute after Liverpool scored the fourth goal when he subs in Malcom, their only attacking option on the bench. He should have subbed him in when they went down 2-0 not 4-0, by then Klopp subs in Gomez for Origi to make the defense harder to break down.
Overall this has to be one of the best nights in Anfield’s history, being the first team to comeback from a 3-0 defecit in the UCL semi-final. This Liverpool team is hungry for a trophy and they truly deserve to win the Champions League this year.
Alex's Soccer Blog 