Champions League Semi Final: Liverpool - FC Barcelona 4-3 agg.

[Leo_Messi]

For me, playing the first game at home is better, solely because I think if we get a good result at Camp Nou (a match which we will be favorites) we will be extra motivated to avoid another Roma situation.

I think it will add more incentive and motivation to our players and manager play be much more focused and intensive at Ainfield. Last few years (including this one) we've struggled hard when we'd played the away leg first.

We have to blindside them at Camp Nou though. As great as Ainfield is on a European night, Camp Nou is the current dominant fortress of Europe.

On the other hand a negative result at the Camp Nou and the tie is pretty much over IMO. Liverpool are arguably the best team this season. Unlike last year they are competing extremely well on both fronts. Klopp is a much better manager than Valverde as well and significantly more experienced in the CL having reached 2 finals with 2 different teams. Both underdogs.

Not only that, Liverpool is our achilles heel of all European top clubs. They have eliminated us every single time (3 times) in two-legged knockout games. 2 times in the UEFA Cup semifinals (1975-76 and 2000-01) and once in the Round of 16 in the CL during the 2006-07 season. The season after our CL win. Liverpool winning all 3 eliminations by small margins (1 goal) though. Nevertheless.

https://www.worldfootball.net/teams/fc-barcelona/liverpool-fc/11/

Interestingly they ended up winning the UEFA Cup in both of those two seasons (1975-76 and 2000-01) after kicking us out and they also reached the CL final back in 2007. However they ended up losing against AC Milan.

So yeah, it is time for us to kick them out this time around and not the other way around once again. However I could very well see us losing once again. I would be confident against pretty much every team not named Liverpool. I expected them to collapse in the league and their league situation having a negative impact on their CL run but that has not occurred yet. They have no injuries either.

 

[soul24rage]

This is the schedule of us, our CL opponent and our Liga opponent

Thoughts:

-It looks like Liverpool is back in form at the right moment with Salah now in scoring form

-Looking at the schedule, Liverpool will probably play their best players vs Huddersfield as they play on Friday and have sufficient time to recover for the 1st leg which is on Wed. It’ll be interesting what they do vs Newcastle away as they will hopefully be still in the title race with their league game is on Sunday and the 2nd leg is on Tuesday.

-It’s going to be very difficult, but let’s hope we can go to the final. It's time for a payback for the 06-07

 

[Devils]

On the other hand a negative result at the Camp Nou and the tie is pretty much over IMO. Liverpool are arguably the best team this season. Unlike last year they are competing extremely well on both fronts. Klopp is the much better manager as well and significantly more experienced in the CL having reached 2 finals with 2 different teams. Both underdogs.

They haven't really faced a really good team in the CL yet though (neither have we for that matter). The best they've faced was a PSG with Neymar who gave them in a very hard time in a very cut-throat group stage.

I don't think their cup competition form has been all that great this season (including their league cups) and the only significant achievement they've had was beating a weak Bayern at the Allianz. They've definitely shown to be more vulnerable than Barca in this regard. Their league form has been undeniably amazing though.

Either way, both teams will be facing by far their most difficult opponent of the season in this semi-final and both teams have been pretty much unstoppable through the course of the season.

 

[Leo_Messi]

They haven't really faced a really good team in the CL yet though (neither have we for that matter). The best they've faced was a PSG with Neymar who gave them in a very hard time in a very cut-throat group stage.

I don't think their cup competition form has been all that great this season (including their league cups) and the only significant achievement they've had was beating a weak Bayern at the Allianz. They've definitely shown to be more vulnerable than Barca in this regard. Their league form has been undeniably amazing though.

Either way, both teams will be facing by far their most difficult opponent of the season in this semi-final and both teams have been pretty much unstoppable through the course of the season.

That is a fair point but they managed to beat PSG in the first game in the group stage. Overall their CL group stage performance was far from convincing but that was ages ago. One should not forget that their group was very strong with Napoli thrown into the mix. The CL group stage was almost half a year ago too. They are another beast altogether nowadays.

Well, they deliberately throw both the League Cup and FA Cup by not committing themselves and using plenty of substitutes. So that statistic is not useful. I rather look at Klopp's entire tenure as a Liverpool coach and how he has done in the knockout stages and it is fair to say that he has done rather well. Reaching both the Europa League and CL finals.

As weak as Bayern have been this season I still rate them higher than Lyon and Man Utd without a doubt.

Yes, it will be a very tough challenge for both teams. Not overly confident for once. It will require a Messi in top form, 2 great team performances and for Valverde not to have any seizures and not use an overly cowardly tactical approach at the Camp Nou which very well could happen, sadly. Anyway it is football and everything can happen. We might just edge it due to having the better individual players and a hopefully very motivated GOAT on a personal mission.

As I wrote earlier we might even be as lucky to see Suárez finally score a goal in the CL knockout stage and the CL as a whole! Truly embarrassing stats dog.

 

[jairzinho]

I think we'll be very defensive in the first leg. Valverde will be ultra cautious about not conceding an away goal.

 

[BruceWayne11]

Barca need to win 3 more games in the CL to lift the trophy. I think 3 wins should be the aim. I've said it since the beginning of the season: I believe Messi when he said "We will do everything to get the CL to Barcelona again". An advantage Barca have is that they can rest for a week before both games, while Liverpool need to win all games in the PL to stay in the race. This is the first time in like forever where Messi and Barca have been able to rest before and prepare better for the CL knockout games, like Ronaldo and Real Madrid have done the last 3 years. Let's hope it helps.

 

[bismp]

I think Valverde and the team will be semi-cautious in the Camp Nou,playing the way we faced Bayern in 2015.I think we should be really happy with a 1-0 or 2-0.

In other words,we can't end the tie at home,we have to get a decent result in Anfield too.

 

[Iarwain]

Clean sheet at Camp Nou is a must. Even if it means 0:0.

 

[Galning]

This will be two real partidazos.

 

[serghei]

Big game. Can't wait.

Any win will do. If it's 1-0 or better it would be awesome. If it's by two goals we become favorites.

Hoping for 2-0 or even 3-1.

Clean sheet at Camp Nou is a must. Even if it means 0:0.

I'm afraid 0-0 is not a great score for us. We need to be in front going on Anfield. Our job on Camp Nou should not be to stay in the tie. But to gain an important advantage for the return leg.

The blueprint of the type of game we need to make is Barca - Bayern 3-0 from 2015. We can reach that level of playing.

 

[Devils]

Big game. Can't wait.

Any win will do. If it's 1-0 or better it would be awesome. If it's by two goals we become favorites.

Hoping for 2-0 or even 3-1.



I'm afraid 0-0 is not a great score for us. We need to be in front going on Anfield. Our job on Camp Nou should not be to stay in the tie. But to gain an important advantage for the return leg.

The blueprint of the type of game we need to make is Barca - Bayern 3-0 from 2015. We can reach that level of playing.

Yeah, people were scared of Bayern's aggressive and pressing play heading into that match as well, but we contained them near perfectly.

People say the same about Liverpool but I think Liverpool will be the ones who will be shaky at Camp Nou, even Porto looked like they could have scored a few yesterday early on but were let down by their bad finishing.

 

[Calidad]

The players will have to be on their toes from the first minute, particularly at Anfield. Liverpool will be hot out the blocks there no doubt.

Semedo will need to play both games. Mane is simply too fast for Roberto, and their front three in general are pacey.

Dembouz will need to play on the wing instead of Coutinho and he’ll have to work hard to help Alba out.

I would actually play Coutinho in MF ahead of Rakitic, certainly at home as he is more press resistant, but I don’t suppose Valverde will be adventurous enough for that. I can see Rakitic turning over possession.

Liverpool love to hit on the break, but don’t have great creativity from the midfield when they have to force the play.

Busquets can’t afford any dithering or fuck ups on the ball in front of the two CB’s either.

I would play Malcom over Suarez, as he’ll help out the RB, but we know Suarez will play. Just hope he finally turns up in the CL. He hasn’t done anywhere near enough so far.

I think it’s a fairly 50-50 tie. Think we have better individuals, but they are better coached (IMO), and work harder of the ball.

 

[Centauri B]

Yeah, people were scared of Bayern's aggressive and pressing play heading into that match as well, but we contained them near perfectly.

People say the same about Liverpool but I think Liverpool will be the ones who will be shaky at Camp Nou, even Porto looked like they could have scored a few yesterday early on but were let down by their bad finishing.

Yes. I remember everyone in here being terrified of Pep's Bayern, but they did not get a sniff at Camp Nou. They had literally zero chances in that game. That Bayern was far superior to this Liverpool in terms of passing and technique, but this Liverpool has two lethal attacking players in Mane & Salah.

As for Porto, they had openings in both games (way more than United had against us) but their finishing was atrocious (especially Marega's)

Clean sheet at Camp Nou is a must. Even if it means 0:0.

4-3 is better than 0-0

 

[Centauri B]

Barca need to win 3 more games in the CL to lift the trophy. I think 3 wins should be the aim. I've said it since the beginning of the season: I believe Messi when he said "We will do everything to get the CL to Barcelona again". An advantage Barca have is that they can rest for a week before both games, while Liverpool need to win all games in the PL to stay in the race. This is the first time in like forever where Messi and Barca have been able to rest before and prepare better for the CL knockout games, like Ronaldo and Real Madrid have done the last 3 years. Let's hope it helps.

We may only need 1 win to lift the CL trophy. We can eliminate Liverpool with 2 draws and then beat Ajax/Spurs in the final. This is what we did against EPL opposition in 2008/09.

In terms of resting. I think that Liverpool may paradoxically be in a better position than we are. They only have two games before the first semi, while we have three. The game Liverpool have to play right before the first semifinal, is against already-relegated Huddersfield (a team around Segunda B level) and will be played on a Friday, whereas we play Levante on Saturday. Sandwiched between the 2 semis, we have to face Celta Vigo and Liverpool have to face Newcastle, both away. I would say that the difficulty level here is more or less similar.

What may give us an advantage, would be if Atleti drop points to either Eibar away or Valencia at home. As things stand, we still need to beat Sociedad & Alaves.

 

[viper76]

I wish if I was as optimistic as some of you here .