An argument could be made that even minus those 2 players Liverpool are still better than Roma. That's how bad last year's choke was! But yeah... now we have to lose by 4 so it would be worse this time in that sense. Also, are we sure Salah is out? With that type of injury it can be tough to call.
Apparently the rule in England is that if you are diagnosed with a concussion you don't play for 6 days. And all are clear that he was diagnosed with a concussion. He wants to play and probably feels fine, but the rule is not flexible, it is there for the player's safety.
Just get the job done, no silly mistakes , no early goal to the opposition to give them and the crowd any encouragement. A 0-0 will suit me just fine.
Don’t joke... that could quite easily happen .. you will know if Liverpool are at it after about 5 minutes.. some games they start so fast they’re basically unplayable. Thankfully they’re without Firmino , Salah and Keita plus VVD wasn’t able to join in training yesterday .. They will still have Mane and Shaqiri to cause us concern though
Barca is a weird to support going into a leg with 2 or even 3 goal lead. Simply because it's not a team that looks "safe" playing defense primarily defense and trying to just hold a result. At the same time you don't want the team to go and attack leaving all kinds of spaces to be exploited. That's why I'd like to find a goal before Liverpool does.
VVD missed a training session? I doubt even the Liverpool forum is using that as an excuse. Keita is a good player but they can replace him without any notable drop in quality. Salah played last week. Shaqiri can't play much worse.
Merseyside Police: “We can confirm a report was received of fireworks being set off at Chavasse Park in Liverpool city centre shortly after 4am today (Tuesday 7 May 2019). This was outside the Barcelona team hotel.
---Coutinho----Suarez----Messi--- -------------Vidal------Rakitic--------- Alba-------------Busi---------Roberto ----------Lenglet----Pique------------ ---------------TerStegen--------------- bench: Cillessen, Semedo, Umtiti, Vermaelen, Arthur, Aleñá, Malcom.
Even with the inclusion of Coutinho (over Semedo) I still think it may look like a 4-4-2: -----------Suarez----Messi------------ ----Coutinho----Rakitic-----Vidal--- Alba---------Busquets------Roberto ----------Lenglet----Pique------------ ---------------TerStegen--------------- or as I usually draw it: MAtS Roberto-Pique-Lenglet-Alba Vidal-Rakitic-Busquets-Coutinho Messi-Suarez
Bad apples everywhere. Although I think setting fireworks outside away teams hotels is not that out of the ordinary. I am just surprised it's not illegal. I think teams are prepared though. A pair of ear buds solves the problem.
Alisson Alexander-Arnold - Matip - van Dijk - Robertson Henderson - Milner - Fabinho Origi - Mane - Shaquiri Substitutes 5 Wijnaldum 6 Lovren 12 Gomez 15 Sturridge 22 Mignolet 24 Brewster 58 Woodburn Substitutes 2 Nélson Semedo 8 Arthur 13 Cillessen 14 Malcom 23 Umtiti 24 Vermaelen 26 Aleñá
ya, the fireworks alone isn't a biggie. but combined with some of their behaviour in the first leg, trashing the place, racist attacks, throwing locals into fountains, starting petitions to ban Messi for "punching" Fabinho, getting pissy about Suarez celebrating his goal, getting pissy about Lineker and Rio Ferdinand cellebrating Messi's goal ... plus that one Liverpool fan who keeps coming here pretending to be a "real Barca fan"...
Feeling a little nervous, given the Roma debacle last year. If we can at least get to HT 0-0, I think we''ll be okay.