Barcelona vs Liverpool at Camp Nou Stadium, in Barcelona, in the Champions League Semi-Finals first leg. Barcelona vs Liverpool is the match with big interest, especially during this season, their positions in domestic Leagues and also in Europe’s Champions League. Review our thoughts on this match here below.
Barcelona
Barcelona already can fully concentrate on Champions League matches. We can confidently say that they will become champions of Spanish La Liga. Moreover, they will face Valencia in the Final of Copa del Rey. This season can be one of the best in the past years since they are able to win triple. This season Barcelona lost at home only once at all competitions against Betis in La Liga in a very surprisingly match. Barca plays at home ground very strong, scoring lots of goals and delighting their fans with a chic game. Barcelonistas won 12 and have drawn 3 in last 15 games. Most interesting, that we will see Coutinho and Suarez playing against their ex-club.
In Champions League Barca confidently finished at the 1st place without any losings in a group with Tottenham. Then they won against Lyon at home ground with 5:1 result and Manchester United in both matches.
After failing to be among nominates to become the best player of last season, Leo Messi proved all over the world that he is still the best. In Champions League and La Liga combined he scored 43 goals and made 16 assists, so he was involved to 59 goals. Luiz Suares is also one of the best strikers with 21 goals in LaLiga, however, without goals in CL. Looks like players and coach found their best game and just enjoying football.
Expected Lineup
Head Coach
Ernesto Valverde
Squad
Goalkeepers
Marc-Andre ter Stegen
Defenders
Jordi Alba, Samuel Umtiti, Gerard Pique, Sergi Roberto
Midfielders
Sergio Busquets, Ivan Rakitic, Arturo Vidal
Strikers
Philippe Coutinho, Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi
Liverpool
Liverpool’s situation is more complicated than their opponents. They are still fighting to become champions in English Premier League. The Reds fully concentrated to both competitions. They won 9 games in a row and they are showing very strong character in the last period. For Klopp after last year fail in the final of Champions League should be very important to succeed in Europe. However, their opponent is extremely strong and named as a favorite of the pair. Liverpool plays very aggressively in the attack, shows good results. The teams attacking trio can be called the strongest in Europe since all 3 players are great with each other.
In Champions League Liverpool in tough fight finished at second place with the same amount of points as Napoli. During Playoffs, they surprisingly won against Bayern Munich in Germany with 3:1 final result. In Quarter-final, Reds won against FC Porto in both matches.
Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino are the best squad strikers with 61 combined goals and 18 assists in a total of Premier League and Champions League. All main squad players are fit and ready to face strongest rivals of the season. The team is playing at the highest level with Jürgen Klopp and can even fight with Barcelona. Last year was a good one for them, but this year they are even more serious.
Expected Lineup
Head Coach
Jurgen Klopp
Squad
Goalkeepers
Alisson
Defenders
Andrew Robertson, Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold
Midfielders
Georginio Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita
Strikers
Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah
H2H
Teams played at International Champions Cup (Friendly tournament) in the year 2016 and Liverpool won by 4:0 result. Previously teams met in Champions League in far 2007 year. Liverpool was stronger then by scoring away goal. Barcelona lost at home 1:2 and then won in Liverpool by 0:1 result.
Article Image Taken from https://www.eurosport.co.uk/football/champions-league/2018-2019/jurgen-klopp-luis-suarez-and-philippe-coutinho-are-liverpool-legends_sto7235061/story.shtml