Liverpool will look to make another historic European come back as they seek to overcome a 0-3 deficit against Barcelona at Anfield!
The 1st leg was a very tightly contested match up and definitely Liverpool feel like they didn’t deserve to lose 3-0, but with Barcelona taking their chances and Liverpool not the Spanish side were able to take such a massive step towards the Final.
Liverpool are coming into this game on great form with 11 wins from last 12 games with the lone loss of course coming to Barca against who they performed well but didn’t take their chances. Liverpool bounced back from that defeat after showing great character defeating Newcastle away from home 2-3
Barcelona just had their long unbeaten run ended as they got beat by Celta Vigo 2-0 at the weekend but given that none of the first team players played due to La Liga already being secured that shouldn’t affect their form by any means considering they played players who won’t feature in this game. Barca have been exceptional in 2019 and have just gone unbeaten in 23 prior to that Celta Vigo game where they played a B/C team.
Liverpool have been pretty much unbeatable at Anfield with just ONE defeat across all competitions back in September. Liverpool are on great form here having won each of their last 6 scoring 20 goals (3.4 per game).
Liverpool have especially been great in the Champions League here having not lost any of the games winning 4 of those 5 keeping 4 straight clean sheets beating PSG, Zvezda, Napoli and Porto with the lone draw coming against Bayern. The rawkus atmosphere at Anfield on European nights have definitely helped them get results here in this competition and expect the stadium to be rocking which is why we still cannot write the hosts off yet.
Liverpool have only ever lost 1 European Semi Final game at Anfield out of 18 winning 14 of those.
Barca just had an 11 game unbeaten run cut against Celta Vigo away from home which once again happened due to them not playing any first team players. Barcelona have been a very good away side across all competitions winning multiple big games on their travels this season.
Barca are yet to lose away in the Champions League and had already won in England twice this season beating Spurs 2-4 and Man Utd 0-1 in the competitio. The other results were 1-1 draw with Inter, 0-0 draw with Lyon and 1-2 win at PSV. Not a single away game that they played have been against a bad side and it’s impressive that they’ve gone unbeaten on these travels winning 3 of those 5 games proving that they know how to get results away from home.
Though Barca are a good away side this season, over the past few years they have struggled in away European games winning just 5 of last 18 losing half of those games and drawing 4.
With Salah and Firmino out, the man to watch for Liverpool is one and only Sadio Mane. He’s going to have to drop a BIG game here if they want this come back. Mane is the only one of the big 3 available up front and he’s had a spectacular season so far. Mane has 24 goals this season, he’s scored in every stage of CL since the start of last season bar this stage so he’s basically due to score here. If anyone is going to carry this comeback it’s going to have to be Sadio Mane who some say is Liverpool’s best player at the moment.
For Barcelona it’s clear and obvious who the man to watch is and that’s Lionel Messi. 48 goals in all competitions, 12 in 9 CL games and he has 26 goals in 33 apps against English opposition which is purely ridiculous. Messi stole the show last week and expect him to drop another masterclass here given that he’s not had a big game in Anfield yet in his career, we can for sure expect him to drop one here. Messi is absolutely unplayable this whole season especially right now.
Looking at H2H, Barcelona have got a 100% win ratio at Anfield (2W OD 0L) in the Champions League having won here in 2001 and 2007 and are the only European side to win at Anfield more than once in history.
Liverpool are very marginal favourites here to win the game in 90 mins at 2.58 with Barca to win offered at 2.65 and Draw at 3.85. The odds have risen for Liverpool due to the fact that Salah and Firmino are both out and these are 2 very key players. Barca are HUGE favourites to advance at 1.03 whereas Liverpool are an extreme long shot at 14.00. With a 3-0 lead and Liverpool being depleted, you’d expect Barca to make the Final at this point. The odds are based on Unibet
Team News
Liverpool: Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino, Adam Lallana and Naby Keita are all out for the hosts.
Barcelona: Rafinha and Ousmane Dembele are the only absentees for what otherwise is a healthy Barcelona squad.
Betting Stats (UCL Based)
Liverpool have covered 20% of their total goal overs at home in UCL this season (1-4).
Liverpool have covered 60% of their total 1st half goal overs at home in UCL this season (3-2).
Liverpool average 1.2 bookings per game at home in UCL this season (6 bookings in 5 games).
Salah and Firmino are Liverpool’s tied top scorers at home in UCL, but with them out Sadio Mane is next up with 2 home European goals this season.
Liverpool have covered 60% of their Handicaps at home in UCL this season (3-1-1).
Liverpool have covered 80% of their 1st half Handicaps at home in UCL this season (4-1).
Barcelona have covered 20% of their total goal overs away from home in the UCL this season (1-4).
Barcelona have covered 20% of their total 1st half goal overs away from home in UCL this season (1-1-3).
Barcelona average 1.8 bookings per game away from home in UCL this season (9 bookings in 5 games).
Lionel Messi has scored the most away goals in CL this season for Barcelona with 3 away European goals.
Barcelona have covered 40% of their Handicaps away from home in UCL this season (2-3).
Barcelona have covered 40% of their 1st half Handicaps away from home in UCL this season (2-3).
KICK OFF – 7th May 2019 – 8pm UK Time
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