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

[jairzinho]

about this tie

Lol. get a hold of yourself man.

 

[Centauri B]

Look at Liverpool's stats, they are very scary. The only times they've lost recently, when fielding a strong team, were 2-1 away to Man City, who were playing at the top of their game at the time, and 2-1 away to PSG, which was a close match. Both games the opponent matched Liverpool for intensity mostly, especially PSG.

The question is whether Barca can do that, and not have the lumberingly slow and error-prone starts they had against Man Utd.

Wasn't remotely close. Liverpool's only shot on target was a Milner penalty after a heroic Mane dive.

Another thing I would like to stress about this season's Liverpool, is that they have played almost no domestic cup games. They focused everything on the league and the CL. Even so, they failed to beat West Ham, Leicester and Man Utd when they had the upper hand in the title race. People like to point out the weakness of the current United, but they usually forget to mention that Liverpool failed to make any impression on them in a must-win game.

Another thing that most fail to notice. Even though many like to claim that we showed lots of defensive frailty in the United tie, the fact of the matter is that United's xG over both legs was a paltry 0.8, whereas the much weaker Porto had an xG of 1.7 against Liverpool. I would say that it's better to focus on facts rather than narratives.

 

[Howlgrana]

Wasn't remotely close. Liverpool's only shot on target was a Milner penalty after a heroic Mane dive.

Another thing I would like to stress about this season's Liverpool, is that they have played almost no domestic cup games. They focused everything on the league and the CL. Even so, they failed to beat West Ham, Leicester and Man Utd when they had the upper hand in the title race. People like to point out the weakness of the current United, but they usually forget to mention that Liverpool failed to make any impression on them in a must-win game.

Another thing that most fail to notice. Even though many like to claim that we showed lots of defensive frailty in the United tie, the fact of the matter is that United's xG over both legs was a paltry 0.8, whereas the much weaker Porto had an xG of 1.7 against Liverpool. I would say that it's better to focus on facts rather than narratives.

Ok maybe I was generous to Liverpool having just seen the stats, I watched the game but it was a while back, Liverpool did have chances to steal a draw at points and they did dominate possession weirdly, which is counter to my previous post about their style of play somewhat!

 

[Valdario]

Liverpool are gonna get smashed at Camp Nou bro, I know for a fact that Valverde will choose to play it safe once we fetch like 2 goals in and that could be our only problem in the 1st leg. We cannot let them play their game, we gotta control it all the time if we want to have a chance to progress to the final. Busquets will play a key role and Messi’s presence as well. If he decides to control the game in the middle too, the speed of interaction with the ball will be key.

 

[Howlgrana]

Liverpool are gonna get smashed at Camp Nou bro, I know for a fact that Valverde will choose to play it safe once we fetch like 2 goals in and that could be our only problem in the 1st leg. We cannot let them play their game, we gotta control it all the time if we want to have a chance to progress to the final. Busquets will play a key role and Messi’s presence as well. If he decides to control the game in the middle too, the speed of interaction with the ball will be key.

I hope so. You reckon Barca can control the match and midfield with the same set-up of Busquets, Arthur and Rakitic? I would like to see Sergi in there next to Busquets.

 

[Valdario]

I hope so. You reckon Barca can control the match and midfield with the same set-up of Busquets, Arthur and Rakitic? I would like to see Sergi in there next to Busquets.

You have to control at least the first 45 minutes of the game, slow the tempo down, set the rythm cool, and then you can always use our bench to change the system abruptly and cause damage, because it’s key that we don’t concede in the 1st leg. If we get a good result at Camp Nou and we don’t concede an away goal, I’m 100% sure that we’ll get to the final, because our team learned a lot from the night in Rome and we won’t just break down that easily this time around.

 

[BusiTheKing]

When a team with those obvious weak spots is legitimately one of the best sides to ever play in the Premier League, you know they have something special. That's what scares me. I still think we're a smarter team on the pitch and of course we have Messi. If those two things get neutralized, we're done.

 

[Vilarrubi]

The first leg of this tie is probably the biggest game we’ve played since the final against Juventus in 2015.

It could be another semi like Bayern 2015... win this game convincingly and we’ve won the treble imo. Nothing can stop us after that.

VVD could become a Jerome Boateng 2.0 after all the hype surrounding him. Could make or break our season this game. Buzzing for it.

 

[Total-Football]

I cant remember the last time we went in and truly felt like we are the underdogs lmao.. must be pre 2004.

 

[te amo barca]

I cant remember the last time we went in and truly felt like we are the underdogs lmao.. must be pre 2004.

We're not underdogs in this tie lol.

 

[Neymessi]

Call me a pessimist etc idc they defnitely have more chances than us to win the tie.

They play actually good football for a top team to be confident about whereas we only have misleading results to be confident and our gameplay is far from special week in week out.

We play how we played against Manu and we are getting humilated like 2013 bayern.

 

[Pepe Silvia]

Super excited for this tie. It will have blood, sweat, tears, and in the end Glory. Haven't been this excited for a tie since 2015 Bayern.

 

[BarçaBarça]

Call me a pessimist etc idc they defnitely have more chances than us to win the tie.

They play actually good football for a top team to be confident about whereas we only have misleading results to be confident and our gameplay is far from special week in week out.

We play how we played against Manu and we are getting humilated like 2013 bayern.

Yet they aren't sure of winning their league, their season could be a complete failure. I'm not sure how confident-inspiring that is.

We will attack this tie aggressively at home, for sure. At our best (attacking/going for the game) we are better than them. That said, it will be a tough fight, because they are a great team right now, but we shouldn't expect to meet less in CL. All in all more chance of them being humiliated than us, imo.

 

[ArtistCatalunya]

,

 

[ArtistCatalunya]

I see Barcelona win it, especially in the CampNou. All it takes is to focus and raise the players "awareness".
We should prepare all the situations. This is an opponent who is known for making a lot of runs, especially without the ball. They rely a lot on fast transitions- direct play, and if the play is not open they use the crosses and set-pieces.
Jurgen Klopp is also a manager who likes to put some tactical traps to surprise the opponents, like in a chess battle. You see his team defend calmly with a slow tempo and movement.. and suddenly they decide to go for a hardcore intense pressing. We should be aware and well prepared for these situations, don't panick at all, be smart and focused, because we have all the skills and weapons to hit them, either through a normal play or through transitions.
I'm very optimistic and confident to reach the Final. Visca Barça !