Barcelona
Line-up
- 1M. ter Stegen
- 18Jordi Alba
- 15C. Lenglet
- 3Gerard Pique
- 5Sergio Busquets
- 4I. Rakitić
- 22Arturo Vidal
- 10Lionel Messi
- 2Nélson Semedo
- 26Carles Aleñà
- 11O. Dembélé
- 20Sergi Roberto
- 7Philippe Coutinho
- 9Luis Suárez
Subs
- 13J. Cillessen
- 23S. Umtiti
- 8Arthur
- 14Malcom
Liverpool
Line-up
- 13Alisson
- 26A. Robertson
- 4V. van Dijk
- 32Joel Matip
- 12J. Gomez
- 3Fabinho
- 10S. Mané
- 11Mohamed Salah
- 14J. Henderson
- 9Roberto Firmino
- 27D. Origi
- 8N. Keïta
- 7J. Milner
- 5G. Wijnaldum
Subs
- 22Simon Mignolet
- 66T. Alexander-Arnold
- 6D. Lovren
- 23X. Shaqiri
Prediction… Barcelona 2-2 Liverpool
In spite of their 4-0 aggregate win over Manchester United in the last round, Barcelona’s performances in the quarter-final led many football fans to label Liverpool clear favourites over the Catalan side ahead of the semi-final.
Admittedly, the matches with United highlighted the Manchester club’s weaknesses rather than Barcelona’s strengths, and many fans believe that Valverde’s side are a little too reliant on Lionel Messi.
Nevertheless, Barca have just won the La Liga title yet again, and they still have the treble to play for, so anyone questioning their quality or motivation should do so with caution.
Attempting to keep Messi quiet in his own backyard will be the trickiest test of the season so far for Virgil van Dijk – who was named PFA Player of the Year on Sunday – and for Liverpool, it’s about grabbing as many away goals as they can.
If they succeed in doing that, they will position themselves promisingly for one of those famous nights of European football at Anfield in the return leg.