That free kick for the 3rd was something else. And they could have had 4 or 5 as Messi played 2 or 3 brilliant balls to teammates on counters that were not finished. Liverpool actually played well, but Barca were ruthless in front of goal. Big mistake by Klopp though to play Matip in central defense instead of Gomez and leave Alexander-Arnold on the bench. Sometimes good managers out-think themselves - you are playing a European semi-final at the Camp Nou, play your best team, man!
Yup, watched the highlights, and to me, the difference was the ruthlessness of Barca. The second half highlights were all Liverpool until Messi scored. And then he had that brilliant free kick.
Matip had a really good game - surprising, I don't really rate him at all. Agree with your general principle though, TAA is better than Gomez at RB so no need for a square peg in a round hole. With the benefit of hindsight, Van Dijk was actually the weak link on the night so maybe it should have been TAA, Gomez and Matip playing!!!
Matip with Van Dijk is their equivalent of Davinson Sanchez playing with Toby. When it is Van Dijk and Gomez in central defense, Liverpool rarely concede; when Matip comes in Van Dijk is less effective because he has to cover off his mistakes.
The first 25 minutes of the 2nd half was all Liverpool and Barca looked uncomfortable, but you could see their game plan was to pounce on quick counters led by Messi and it worked a treat. They are no longer the team that keeps the ball for 65% possession.
Yes. I had not realized that Vidal was on Barca, and he is not a keep possession player. And as I think about this more, this is the first time in quite a while that I would not mind any of the 4 teams in the Semis to win. Spurs, of course are the top, followed by Ajax, but I would not mind Barca or Liverpool
Vincent Kompany might be creaking with age a little bit nowadays, but what a character. Great centre back, great leader.
good news is, not gonna be extra time on this one. 4-3, Pool with about 12 to go I don't think the Liverpool supporters would survive an extra 30 minutes anyways
better team won, simple as that. Liverpool were very unlucky to be down 0-3 in the first leg anyways.
Congrats to Liverpool, they were superb, but Barcelona were shocking, they looked like robots out on the pitch.
Like last year’s World Cup this edition of the Champion’s League has been really entertaining. Ajax’s toppling of two giants, Spurs’ remarkable turn around from the first few games and now Liverpool’s comeback. The final will have to be something really special to live up to what’s come so far.
Well, when you say biggest, that is, what, 5 teams? Bayern, Juve, Barca, R Madrid, and Man U, yes? But there are a good 10 teams which are "big" teams London Blue London Red Ath Madird Inter Roma Dortmond PSG Monaco Liverpool Man City AC Milan And Liverpool have quite a few CL trophies
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48202945 Chelsea boss Maurizio Sarri says it will be "not be easy" to challenge Liverpool and Manchester City next season, after an unsuccessful appeal against Fifa's transfer ban. The Blues are banned from signing players during the next two transfer windows until the end of January 2020.
Bayern Munich surely qualifies. We have to go back to 90/91 for Red Star Belgrade vs Marseille, if I'm reading this Wikipedia page correctly for one of the perennially top clubs to not be one of the competitors. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_Cup_and_UEFA_Champions_League_finals