Spanish champions, Barcelona, are on the brink of a return to the
UEFA Champions League, UCL, final after a Lionel Messi brace earned them a 3-0
victory over Liverpool at the Camp Nou on Wednesday.
Messi scored his
600th goal for Barcelona in the space of seven second half minutes to hand the
Spanish side a commanding lead heading into next week second leg tie at
Anfield.
Both teams
produced remarkable attacking performance but it was Barcelona broke the deadlock
through Luis Suarez whose brilliantly stretched foot guided a superb pass from
Jordi Alba into the Liverpool net to put Barca 1-0 ahead at the break.
Liverpool came
close to an equaliser through Sadio Mane, but the Senegalese failed to keep his
composure as he skied the ball way off the mark.
Despite coming
close a number of times via James Milner, Mohamed Salah, who hit the post and
forced Marc-Andre Ter Stegen into a couple of excellent saves, they were made
to regret those chances as Messi struck twice.
Messi’s first was
a tap in, after Suarez rattled the Liverpool post, before he completed the rout
with a sublime free kick.
Barcelona finally
defeat Liverpool after five matches, with the win tonight taking their unbeaten
run at home to 32 matches, a European record.
Speaking moments
after the match, Liverpool boss, Jurgen Klopp said;
“The performance
was really good, the boys played a super game. Against a side like Barcelona, a
few moments are enough to give them the opportunity. I’m really happy with the
performance – not too happy with the result, but we have to take that.”
The second leg
comes up next week Tuesday at Anfield, with Liverpool having a mountain to
climb.
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