Football is a beautiful game and it deserves to be played beautifully, which in truth, serves as words to live by in this sport. Last night a lot of fans were expecting to see Barcelona take some damage, but eventually, overcome the adversity of Liverpool and progress to the Champions League final. In the end, though, that’s not what happened at all.
The Reds came from 3-0 down on aggregate to defeat Barcelona, in one of the most remarkable comebacks in the history of European football. Everything just seemed to click into place perfectly for them, to the point where it was actually kind of hard to believe what we were seeing. Even some Liverpool fans probably couldn’t believe what they were seeing, and that’s coming from a fanbase who have quite literally seen it all over the years.
You’ll never walk alone
When push came to shove those Liverpool players were able to step up and be counted, and they did so with flawless ease. They had the kind of composure that you just don’t see at this level all too often, and it confirmed what we all already knew: this is one of the best Premier League seasons in recent memory.
How do we know? Because Liverpool aren’t even top of the division right now. Manchester City currently occupy top spot heading into the final weekend of fixtures, whereas the Reds, despite having only lost one game in the league all season long, are trailing.
Origi and Wijnaldum were the obvious heroes in this ‘operation’ of sorts, but beyond that, some props needs to be given to the rest of the squad too. Robertson was causing some real problems before his injury, Alisson made a string of magnificent saves, Henderson controlled the pace in the middle of the park, and Sadio Mane was painfully underrated by fans in the immediate aftermath of the clash. He was controlling so much of what made Liverpool work throughout the course of the game, and he just doesn’t seem to get the props he deserves for that.
In the absence of Firmino and Salah he was called upon to get the job done, and we think it’s safe to say that he accomplished his goal.
Looking ahead
The eyes of the football world will now turn to tonight’s second Champions League semi final, as Tottenham Hotspur and Ajax wage war for the right to meet the Reds in Madrid. Whoever wins will likely be viewed as the underdogs against Jurgen Klopp’s men, but funnily enough, we actually think that’ll go against Liverpool in the long run.
They seem to thrive when they’re in a position of being the underdog, because they just don’t like the pressure of being the favourites. We could be wrong and they could ease their way to victory in the final, but somehow, it doesn’t feel like that’ll be the case.
The bookmakers clearly believe them to be the favourites, and it’ll be interesting to see how they deal with that.
