MESSI LEAVES KLOPP PRAYING FOR A MIRACLE
Barca magician stuns Reds with wonder goal
There we were, thinking there was no reason why Liverpool couldn’t win this tie, when up popped the reason it is utter madness to entertain thoughts like that at the Nou Camp.
Lionel Messi. Always a privilege to be in his presence, of course, but boy does he ruin the night for those who dare to dream when facing Barcelona.
Liverpool were doing well when he scored Barcelona’s second. And not just comparatively well, either. Not just well if set against Manchester United, who were outplayed and departed chastened here last month. Genuinely well. Well enough to be level.
They’d had several good scoring chances. One fell to James Milner from 12 yards. You always fancy Milner from 12 yards. he shot straight at Marc-Andre ter Stegen in the Barcelona goal.
And then, the first time Barcelona had really threatened Liverpool since opening the scoring through Luis Suarez in the 26th minute, Messi made it 2-0 and the task grew so much harder.
Then he scored a third from a free- kick with eight minutes to go.
Look, impossible is a big word. Liverpool have the energy to make it another crazy night at Anfield. But they can’t let Barcelona score. And Barcelona have Messi. So let’s just say it’s hard now. really, really, really, really, hard.
Credit Sergio Busquets, too, with alighting on the one tactic that is guaranteed to change any game. Give it to Messi. Not a strategy out of left field, it must be said. Not one that has not been alighted upon many times before. But great plans don’t always have to be complicated.
When Busquets picked up the ball in Liverpool’s half he had a lot of team-mates calling for it in positions that were easier to see. But none of them were Messi. So Busquets waited a split second until he could latch on to where Messi was, and aimed for him instead. It was a tough, eye-of-theneedle pass, but very much worth the effort. Finding Messi at that precise moment changed the tie.
he turned and ran with it, a posse of Liverpool players in pursuit but none getting near until Andrew robertson’s tackle sent the ball in the direction of Sergi roberto. he could do nothing with it but Luis Suarez could, hitting the bar with his shot.
And guess who it fell to? The last person Liverpool would have nominated. Messi just took it on his chest and carried on his run, almost to the empty net. Delivered to its target, the ball bounced cheerfully out again and the frustration of goalkeeper Alisson, as he kicked it back in anger, encapsulated Liverpool’s disappointment. They did not deserve that.
So the third would have been even harder to take. But that’s Messi for you. he’s a genius. So when he stood over the ball after Fabinho had fouled him to concede the free-kick there was always a chance it would curl up and over the wall and into the top corner of the net out of Alisson’s reach.
VIRGIL’S BIG NIGHT FALLS FLAT Pages 88-89
Which is exactly what it did. Up the other end, after substitute roberto Firmino had a shot cleared off the line, the goal was open for Mohamed Salah. To pull one back would leave Liverpool needing a 2-0 home win. A huge difference. Salah hit a post.
And that wasteful stuff happens — even to players like Salah. he’s very, very good. But he’s not Messi. Then again, who is?
Those who accused Jurgen Klopp of setting up negatively with Firmino not yet fit enough to start will feel vindicated after Liverpool failed to score. But that wasn’t how the game panned out, really. Sadio Mane could have scored before half-time, Milner and Salah after it.
For a long period in the middle of the game, Liverpool were the better side. By the end of? Barcelona could have had more. A break in the final minute of injury time saw Messi feed Ousmane Dembele, whose confidence seems to have disappeared, and he shot tamely at Alisson. had that gone in, the second leg would have been more fixture obligation than rematch.
Firmino was a huge loss for Liverpool and Georginio Wijnaldum in his place only served to enhance admiration for the skill levels of elite forwards. To play the way Liverpool wish — or Manchester City, Tottenham, Barcelona, Ajax, real Madrid — requires technical ability that leaves even the best players floundering.
Wijnaldum has been outstanding for Liverpool in midfield this season, but back there he isn’t getting the ball fizzed at him from all angles as Firmino is each week. Killing it at that speed, with so much close attention, and moving it on in a split second, needs extraordinary talent.
Too often the ball bounced off Wijnaldum when it would have stuck to Firmino. Not his fault, he
was doing his best — but it meant Liverpool’s play often broke down at vital moments, when Barcelona’s didn’t.
In the first half, certainly, their build-ups were more measured and it was testament to Liverpool’s defence that only one goal separated the teams at half-time. After just three minutes, Philippe Coutinho found Ivan Rakitic, who was thwarted by a block from Joe Gomez.
The tackle by Robertson that kept Messi out after 13 minutes, however, was almost as beautiful as a goal. From that position Messi has scored, literally, hundreds of times.
The late run into the central position in the penalty area, seeing a spot that no one else has identified — despite it being so obviously dangerous — and identifying a way to get there by stealth. It’s almost shape- shifting, his ability to move around the pitch unnoticed, when really his every step should be accompanied by flares and sirens.
Yet Robertson recognised him, recognised the danger, saw the future, and prevented it. When Messi arrived at the ball, the full back met him there and his tackle took it out for a corner. corked Messi lookedcorked genuinely startled by this development, as iff the grown-ups had discovered his secret hideout.
The disappearance of Naby Keita on 24 minutes, however, hurt Liverpool. Substitute Jordan Henderson’s - first involvement was to gett nutmegged, and he hadn’tdn’t quite recovered his equilibrium quilibwrong when it all went wrong on his flank. Gomez’s throw was inintercepted and Liverpool never got the ball back from there, until it was being plucked from their net for the restart. Philippe Coutinho was involved, but the cross bbelonged to the dangerous odangerous Jordi Alba. It was perfectly feperfectly timed but Suarez’s run turned it into poetry. The timing, the execution, it was a sstunning example of goalscoring scoringgoalscoring craftsmanship, Suarez darting between the centre halves to emerge in clean air, slotting past Alisson.
It looked one for VAR initially but replays showed Suarez’s run to be so quick, so alert, that he was a good two yards onside when the cross was delivered.
He celebrated too — none of that faux respect for football’s prince of darkness. More power to him for it.
Who wouldn’t want to celebrate being Barcelona’s striker, and Lionel Messi’s team-mate?