Unlike the Premier League, Liverpool reached the Champions League final and won the prestigious European trophy after coming back 3-0 to Barcelona to win at Anfield 4-3 on aggregate in the semi-finals.
Liverpool faced Bayern Munich at the round of 16 which ended goalless in the first leg at Anfield but Sadio Mane scored an incredible goal to open the score at the Allianz Stadium. Liverpool won 3-1 with Mane scoring 2 and Virgil van Dijk leading Liverpool into the quarter-finals. Liverpool faced last season opponents Porto with a 6-1 aggregate win but the semi-finals defined Liverpool’s season.
The first leg of the semi-finals was against Barcelona at the Nou Camp with Barca already on track to win the La Liga. Klopp had to put Georginio Wijnaldum upfront after Roberto Firmino was benched due to an injury, which was puzzling to many fans. Nevertheless, Liverpool opened the game fearless but in the 26th minute former Liverpool striker, Luis Suarez scored his first Champions League goal of the campaign as well against Liverpool in a moment of defensive lapse.
The first half ended with Barcelona on an attack and Liverpool seem vulnerable at the back. However, the little magician Lionel Messi changed the game after scoring from a rebound in the 75th minute but also scoring a sublime freekick in the 82nd minute to score his 600th career goal.
Moussa Dembele could have ended the tie in the closing seconds of the game but his weak effort was saved by Alisson with Messi holding his head in his hands.
Barcelona had the luxury to rest their starting XI on the weekend fixture while Liverpool was still chasing the top stop against Newcastle. Thanks to a Divock Origi header, Liverpool managed to snatch the 3 points to put pressure on Manchester City but they had to play Barcelona in the second leg two days later.
Liverpool had to produce another miracle on the European stage at Anfield with their last one against Borussia Dortmund in the Europa League Quarter Finals in 2016 when Liverpool scored in the closing minutes of the game to win 5-4 on aggregate.
With Firmino ruled out and Salah receiving a head injury against Newcastle, Klopp started Origi up front with Mane and Xherdan Shaqiri on the wings.
The Anfield crowd lit the stadium up and were rewarded when Origi scored in the 7th minute after captain Jordan Henderson’s shot was saved. The half ended with Liverpool in the lead and Barcelona struggling to get on their stride but Liverpool’s left-back Andrew Robertson was forced off after receiving a knock-on by Suarez and was replaced by Wijnaldum with James Milner moving to left-back.
Wijnaldum made an instant impact by scoring in the 54th minute and with a header in the 56th minute bringing Liverpool back on level terms. Barcelona players look distraught and knew one goal would force Liverpool to score two goals but at this moment it seems to be going to extra time.
Liverpool had a corner in the 79th minute with Trent Alexander-Arnold moving away from the corner but look up to see Divock Origi free and the Barcelona players were not concentrating to deliver a swift corner for Origi to score making it 4-3 on aggregate.
This has to be one of the greatest European matches held at Anfield with Liverpool coming back from a 3-0 deficit to win the tie and progress to the finals as clear favourites. To top it off, Liverpool players and staff held shoulder to shoulder in front of the fans and sang the Liverpool’s anthem in an emotional evening.
Liverpool faced Tottenham Hotspur in the Champion League’s Finals after coming back to beat Ajax in the semi-finals in another dramatic comeback.
However, Tottenham’s manager started Harry Kane instead of the hattrick hero, Lucas Moura in the finals but Liverpool managed to capitalise on Moussa Sissoko’s handball with Mohamed Salah scoring the penalty in the second minute. Even though it was arguably one of the best Champion Leagues campaigns, the final failed to live up to the hope with Divock Origi scoring the winning goal in the 87th minute to hand Liverpool their 6th European Trophy.
After losing to Real Madrid in last season’s finals, many thought Liverpool will not reach this stage again let alone win the trophy but Jurgen Klopp managed to break his curse and win the Champion League trophy.
Photo by Waldemar Brandt on Unsplash
Leave a Reply
Want to join the discussion?Feel free to contribute!