Here is also a bit of analysis by Mourinho on quarter finals and semifinals. I can listen to this man talk about football everyday. So much knowledge and he knows how to deliver it to general public without being to technical.

Liverpool vs Barcelona

This is one truly tough one to guess, but Liverpool playing first game away is an advantage. I give first game draw 1-1 and second one Liverpool with their amazing crowd to beat Barcelona 2-1. Liverpool into the final.

That free kick by Messi. wow

@tiki_taka Football says that if you can't score those, you will concede. Playing nice doesn't always provide, like we saw today.

Wasting one easy chance -> Wasting two easy chances -> Concede

Liverpool finishing was awful tonight. Conceding 3 is okay in Camp Nou if you can bag one or two. We know from the Roma tie and many others that Barcelona are vulnerable and weak away from home.

Salah choked incredibly hard. I can't begin to say how much of an overrated player he is now. Now that teams actually make tactics to stop him, he becomes basically useless in big games. Mane is much more dangerous every time I see Liverpool play a big game. That miss from Salah was just... embarrassing. Could cost Liverpool the tie. I believe it was 2-0 at that point? 2-1 would have been a completely different scenario for Liverpool.

Also I don't know why they kept on sending in high crosses when Pique and Lenglet are clearly much more capable at winning headers than Mane and Salah? Seemed like a stupid tactic to me. Your players are never winning those headers. You don't see Barca swinging in high crosses for Messi and Coutinho on a regular.

Lets be honest, it was a completely different game than United vs Barca at camp Nou but its the same result nevertheless. Feel bad for Liverpool, but if you can't finish all those chance, then they don't matter that much in the first place. :(

@Emrecan True that, Liverpool might complain but truth is, they can mostly blame themselve, lack of clinical finishing is a sure way of losing a game. :(

I felt like Liverpool should have left with a draw or narrow defeat the worst.. but this .. man. That is CL football for you and Messi.

What a dilemma. Liverpool have to choose either to bet it all on Champions League or Premier League. If they try to do both, they'll get neither. I'd choose the league all the way. It's about time they won it. Not to mention, it's easier than a comeback vs Barcelona. The team already took to heart the painful lesson vs Roma last year, so I don't see that happening again this year. And 1 goal from Barca makes Liverpool have to score 5.

@blaugrana the thing is, EPL is City's to lose since they are one point ahead. Even if Liverpool win their last games it won't matter if city does so as well.

@raimondo and yet City getting a draw is still more likely than a comeback vs Barcelona.

City has 7 days rest before playing Leicester.. while Liverpool and Tottenham are playing Saturday. Thanks FA for making it entertaining for EPL clubs to compete domestic and european competitions.

Not to mention 2 weeks of rest majority of Spurs players had before EPL kicked in right after world cup. FA needs to do something to help EPL clubs because our schedules are crazy and we are fighting for 3 domestic cups with no winter break. Spurs looked tired against Ajax.

I still believe at least one EPL team will make into final.

Despite the atmosphere in their new stadium, Tottenham were strangely below par in the opening 45 minutes against the Dutch side and have it all to do in Amsterdam on Wednesday after conceding a vital away goal in the 1-0 defeat.

Pochettino is normally totally analytical in his briefings during the break, but Lucas Moura admits voices were raised as the Argentine sensed a place in the Champions League final was slipping away.

“Were voices raised? Yes, you know Mauricio,” Moura said. “He loves to touch our minds and to motivate, he is so good at this. That’s why we changed in the second half and we played much, much better.

“That’s why we are going there to play the game otherwise we might as well stay in London, give up and let them qualify. One-nil, things can happen. A game is 90-95 minutes and a lot of things can happen.

“Look at when we played Manchester City in the second game. In 20 minutes there were five goals. Who could believe that? No-one.

“The spirit against City was amazing, was unbelievable, and we need to play like that.

“We went there and played against City and we did a very good game. We were strong mentally because it’s important. And now we need to do the same.

Also to add to my comment:

Ter Stegen had an amazing game. I thought Barca's midfield, especially Vidal, was incredibly good too at controlling midfield and finding channels.

Also @Dynastian that is such an unfair comment on Salah, which makes me think you didn't watch the match. He had a good game but just unlucky. It happens to the best players.

Agreed, how do you miss an open goal with the goalie wrongsided. At least if the ball hit barcelona players near goalline there is a case. Salah miss deserve critics by his standard

1 bad game does not make him overrated.

Seriously how can you guys judge so easily such a decent lad like Salah? I remember Real Madrid vs Barcelona when Benitez was managing Cristiano lost about 2 sure goals and was it 1 ? or 2 tap ins? That made him overrated? Sigh

If we reach the final i’d Rather play Tottenham rather than Ajax. All the way.

@Marcus @Joze I agree that while Salah wasn't good in that game, it by no mean make him overated. He is still a very good player, well, maybe not on the same level as the very best but still an exceptional player. For me, he was just very unlucky. People saying he is overated just from that must been thinking back at the time some people were comparing him to Messi and Ronaldo. Hes obviously not that consistent nor good but I really don't think he is overated because he isn't at this level.

Why did this thread turn towards Salah. Barca back 4 was very compact and so, Salah couldn't cut inside. No player is perfect to stand up and deliver in all games. Players learn from experience. Applies for Salah as well.

I was heart broken because the scoreline at the end was so bad, and not reflective of what happened in the game.

I never saw this Liverpool team struggle so much.. for the first time, I saw so many deficiencies in this team. So, congrats to Barca for that

In the second leg, we have to throw out an attacking lineup, and if we don't have injuries, we can show what we are capable of..

We spoke about Vidal, Messi’s brace, Ter Stegen clean sheet. Many played very well except Sergi Roberto who was decent.
But for me the X-factor was Jordi Alba, best in the world in his position. Annihilated Salah by covering him being as fast as the fastest in the world. 0 mistake in first half, assisting first goal brilliantly. Doing runs up front and back, he was everywhere.

I thought Sergi Roberto wasn't that bad, I mean, he basically was very important on the second goal and in general, I thought he did decent.

Also, I forget to mention it but Barca was really different from usual in that game. They were more pragmatism than usual and they didn't look very classy all the time to me. Constantly complaining to the ref, even Messi himself went to have a talk with him a few time. I wasn't impressed by that and I was glad when Suarez finally got his yellow. They also didn't really seemed to care about passing and possession which isn't bad in itself but considering the team DNA, it was a bit weird. Still think they were amazing but I still wish they wouldn't have resorted to assaulting the ref whenever he gave a fault against them.

There was a clear penalty non whistled for Barca. Matip stopped the ball with his hand so players were angry from the start. Messi is the captain so it’s logical to go to ref because he refused to use VAR. He was saying « Mano «. Busquets and Suarez in general do it even in league games, they need to get heated to deliver, it’s in their dna.
We could get a result despite not getting pk, and after the game in general, no Barca player complain about ref decisions... some clubs like to complain for years for similar things...

Jordi indeed had a massive game props to him and Valverde for their defensive scheme.

I will ignore the penalty comments and advice you to calm yourself. Liverpool is knows for the comebacks though I find it impossible