Barcelona secure 3-0 lead in 1st leg against Liverpool

Barcelona to go into second leg against Liverpool with 3-0 lead

With legends Ronald Koeman and Patrick Kluivert in the stands at the Camp Nou and Virgil van Dijk on the pitch, the Dutch flavour was high as Barcelona registered a 3-0 victory against Liverpool in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final.

It was clear that Ernesto Valverde wanted to make use of home advantage, as Barça had an uncharacteristically high tempo early on. Jürgen Klopp replied in kind, but it was Barça who drew first blood in the 26th minute.

Arturo Vidal switched it to the left wing with a long ball to Philippe Coutinho. The Brazil international sprayed it back to Jordi Alba, who found Luis Suárez with a delicately timed ball. The Uruguayan centre-forward made an equally brilliant run for a simple finish past Alisson.

Then, Barça established near-total dominance. Liverpool were hanging on by a thread, careful not to concede a penalty while navigating through the huge challenge posed by the in-form trio of Lionel Messi, Philippe Coutinho and Luis Suárez.

The Reds went into the second-half on a bit of a positive note, but their counter-attacking play was easily broken up by the duo of Sergio Busquets and Arturo Vidal. Immediately after the beginning of the second-half, Liverpool got their first shot on target.

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Marc-André ter Stegen was called upon again in a few minutes, with Mohamed Salah shooting from outside the box. Jürgen Klopp’s men had another big chance, but James Milner shot straight at Ter Stegen. Liverpool put pressure, but Barça stemmed the tide.

Against the run of play, Barça extended their lead in the 74th minute. Messi’s sublime ball was passed to Suárez by Sergi Roberto. ‘El Pistolero’ hit the crossbar, but the Argentine walked it into the net to complete the counter-attack.

The final blow was also delivered by Messi. The Argentina international curled a free-kick into the top right corner from a long way out. It was a majestic goal. A little while later, a double goal-line clearance kept Liverpool from giving an instant reply.

In the end, Barça managed to hold on to the clean sheet and substitute Ousmane Dembélé missed an easy opportunity. Suárez was one of the best performers, and there was no love lost between the Uruguay international and his former club. But it was the sheer genius of Leo Messi which got Barça through.

Valverde’s decision to field Arturo Vidal in place of Arthur was also useful, as his bullish and no-nonsense attitude neutralised the overtly physical Liverpool midfield. A 3-0 lead going into the second leg makes Barcelona heavy favourites to make the final.

But Barça need to produce a better defensive performance at Anfield in order to defend the lead.