A week ago, Barcelona dismantled Liverpool in a 3-0 win in Spain to take a commanding lead in their Champions League semifinal, boosted by a pair of goals from Lionel Messi, including a late free kick that seemed to all but seal a trip to the Final against either Tottenham or Ajax.
On Tuesday, the two sides met at Anfield. While getting the best of the Reds at Anfield is as hard of a thing to accomplish as there is in soccer, few thought there was a chance of a Liverpool comeback, much less one completed in regulation.
Wowza, Barcelona was -2500 to advance before kick off of today's #ChampionsLeague game with Liverpool. Now on brink of elimination down 4-0. Epic choke job
— Dave Mason (@DaveMasonBOL) May 7, 2019
And then, lightning struck early and often. Liverpool unleashed an attacking onslaught that began with a Divock Origi goal off a rebound chance that sparked intrigue. The second goal came from Liverpool’s first sub of the game, as Georginio Wijnaldum found space in the box and powered home a goal to bring real life into the proceedings early in the second half.
https://twitter.com/brlive/status/1125857112893136896
Wijnaldum found the back of the net for a second time to tie things up on aggregate shortly after his first, burying a header into the top corner to send Anfield into a full on frenzy.
https://twitter.com/brlive/status/1125857511163277312
Then, the most improbable goal of them all came to make it 4-0, as Trent Alexander-Arnold found Origi all alone in the box. Barcelona was lulled to sleep before a Liverpool corner, and the Reds made them pay.
https://twitter.com/brlive/status/1125863262912962562
Barcelona was never able to muster much in the way of a real chance after. Messi tried to create a spark but couldn’t get anything past Alisson Becker and, ultimately, time ran out as Liverpool pulled off one of the all-time great comebacks that you’ll see in any sport. They also became the third team to accomplish such a feat in Champions League history.
Liverpool is the third team to reach the European Cup final after losing the first semifinal leg by three goals.
2019: Liverpool over Barcelona (L 3-0, W 4-0)
1986: Barcelona over Göteborg (L 3-0, adv. on PKs)
1971: Panathinaikos over Red Star (L 4-1, adv. on PKs)
— Paul Carr (@PaulCarr) May 7, 2019
Barcelona will be left wondering what happened, how they could have so many lapses in the second half, how they could give up such a silly goal to lose, and why they couldn’t have finished off the first leg with what seemed like a sure goal (but an unnecessary one) at the time.
This was the moment that defined Barca/Liverpool pic.twitter.com/sQLYQC1F7H
— Yu (@YucciMane) May 7, 2019
Liverpool now look like the team of destiny and will move on and face the winner of Tottenham and Ajax, as the Dutch team hold a 1-0 lead going into Wednesday’s second leg in Amsterdam.
