Attacking Barcelona is not wrong given it can unsettle them but it leaves teams exposed and Liverpool found that can be fatalContemplating his side’s Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City last season, Jürgen Klopp said that to sit back and look to absorb pressure against such a side was in effect to try to “win the lottery”. Against the very best, he believes there is no point – at least for a team of Liverpool’s ability – in curling up like a hedgehog and hoping the threat somehow goes away. He vowed to attack, and did, and his reward was three goals in an extraordinary 20-minute spell that settled the tie before half-time in the first leg. Related: Incomparable Messi...
The Champions League semi-final against Barcelona will pit two generations of Anfield attackers against each otherLiverpool will cost themselves some money should they reach the Champions League final at Barcelona’s expense – one of the add-ons to Philippe Coutinho’s transfer fee of £105m just over a year ago was an extra £4.5m should the Catalans win the event this season.Financial considerations apart, it should be quite the reunion when Jürgen Klopp’s side arrive at the Camp Nou on Wednesday. Liverpool were not only responsible for showcasing Coutinho’s talents in a manner that made him irresistible to Barcelona, they did exactly the same with Luis Suárez four years earlier, again making an impressive profit on a player they signed relatively cheaply....
Defeat to Barcelona highlighted glaring weaknesses and a Champions League return requires a swift upturn in fortunesAs a chastened Manchester United turn back to the Premier League, where their aim of securing a top-four finish will be tested by the visits of Manchester City and Chelsea, at least they can dispense with the nostalgia bordering on superstition that came with Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s mission to rejuvenate his old club.Barcelona 2019 did not remotely resemble Barcelona 1999, except in that fact that United trailed for most of the game. The more exact parallel was with Barcelona 1994, where Alex Ferguson’s United were humbled 4-0 by the team of Hristo Stoichkov, Romário and a certain Josep Guardiola in a group game defeat...
One of Tottenham or Manchester City will definitely go through and Liverpool have the easiest opponents which leaves only Manchester United, who need to win in BarcelonaThese have been a memorable few weeks for Tottenham. I have not been to their stadium but the images online look incredible and the Spurs supporters’ response to it has been extremely positive. In two games there they have two victories and they are yet to concede a goal. On Tuesday they took control of their Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City, with Son Heung-min scoring another vital goal. Related: In praise of the Cup Winners' Cup, the competition that was never retained Related: Pogba says Manchester United must be ‘killers in front of...
Even on a relatively poor night, the greatest club footballer of all time was impossible to tameIt is the sign of a truly great player: even when you beat him, stifle him, beat him back for an hour, he still somehow ends up winning the day. There was a degree of amusement before this Champions League quarter-final first leg at Chris Smalling’s suggestion he was looking forward to facing Lionel Messi; that the greatest club footballer in the history of the game should “bring it on”. Oh, Chris. Don’t. Please. No. Chris. Stop it.But really, what else was Smalling supposed to say? How is he supposed to approach this? Messi does not operate to the usual rules, he is not...