Originally posted by Don Giovanni
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UCL Predictions
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Who else other than Lionel Messi could do that. Barcelona are going to complete the treble this season. Liverpool had their chances, but Mane is no Suarez and Salah is no Messi.
The only hope Ajax have is if Tadic can pull the strings like he did against Real. It's going to take a special performance from him to counter-act Messi.
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Liverpool were demolished. Had a few chances - some very good.. but at the end Dembele should have made it 4-0. Second half Barcelona got tired and sat back. Liverpool hit a few hopeful balls in the box.. very Greek ethniki... but could not find the killer pass. Barcelona should have loaned them Coutinho for the game..
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Liverpool were not demolished re, what game you watching? They couldn’t score, they dominated possession for the most part and had Barca pegged but Barca played it well and very smart.
Very clinician with chances created, that freekick from Messi was insane. Pool needed an away goal and it could have been different but wasn’t to be.
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I thought Liverpool could have come away with one or two goals. They were unlucky when Salah hit the post. I also thought Matip wasn't quite right for Liverpool. They needed a better partner for Van Dijk on the night. Things would have been different for Liverpool had those sort of things gone their way. They'd still have a good chance in this tie.
That said, Barcelona are on a different level. The goal that opened the game proved it alone. Alba's control, pass, and vision; Suarez's run and finish was the kind of quality missing on Liverpool's end yesterday. On that alone, Barcelona would have won 1-0. But Messi takes them to another level. He made it 3-0, could have made it 4 or 5 if not for Dembele's poor finishing. He forces teams to put 4-5 players on him and they still can't keep him from having this sort of effect.
The Nou Camp support is incredible too. It's not easy playing in Barcelona. A true colosseum.
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I would never have thought we'd see a repeat of Barcelona's collapse against Roma last season. You would think Barcelona would have learned their lessons. Apparently they did not.
I think Valverde got out-coached in this one. He is like Tuchel and Allegri, not a manager for Europe, not willing to take big enough risks. His team didn't look well enough prepared to play in that stadium. Valverde came into the game with everything depended upon on Messi pulling more rabbits out of the hat if things got desperate. And he didn't manage the match well. He didn't get his players to concentrate and to focus. There was not enough urgency on the part of Barcelona, too much complacency despite acknowledging they couldn't do that going into this game.
In contrast, Klopp had all sorts of tricks up his sleeve and gave his side real belief. They didn't go kamikazee. They played very intelligently. They forced their chances and took them well. Origi and Wjinaldum aren't exactly the players you would expect to steal the show, but they did. Both proved they deserve not only to play at Liverpool, but that Liverpool are lucky to have them as options from the bench. Mane gave Barcelona problems, but not enough to get anything of his own. He was reduced to a supporting cast member tonight. Virgil took much greater command at the back then he did in the first leg. The difference between the two sides, in the end, came down to a smart, well worked play from a set-piece, Liverpool's fourth on the night. That bit of ingenuity was the difference between the two sides and that comes down to the Liverpool technical staff and Klopp. They engineered this miracle.
The other issue was Messi. As good as he is, today he subdued himself. Liverpool couldn't take him out of the game: the best they could do was foul him when he ran at them. Perhaps he was weary of taking that sort of approach to the game for that reason. Perhaps it was a choice he made thinking there would always be time for him to turn up whenever he wanted. But by then, Liverpool took too much control over the game. He knew going into this game that Barcelona only needed a goal to kill off the tie. Instead of maniacally going for that goal, he took things too easy and that allowed Liverpool to take a lot of control over the game, to the point where Barcelona began to lose composure. He could have killed the tie inside the first 20 minutes, but then fumbled about with the ball at his feet on a golden opportunity when Barcelona had a chance inside the Liverpool area, with space and with numbers. Had he scored there, Liverpool would have been deflated going into the half. It would have seen Barcelona in the final.
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Yip, you nailed it. Valverde out-coached. Liverpool played high up the pitch and Barcelona were lost.
Countinho slowed the game at key moments. In fact he is too slow for this type of game. Was outclassed. Trojan Horse.
Roberto for me is not good enough to get into the Liverpool side.. Semedo far better.
Busquets is not the Busquets of 5 years ago..
Vidal has lost a step.
Malcom was a breath of fresh air.
Dembele being injured was a disaster. As was his miss that would have made it 4-0 last week.
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