Barstool’s Champions League Preview – The “DEAD MAN LIMPING” Edition
Sam’s Soccer Safe Space For Stoolies
Hi Haters™,
Second legs of the Champions League semi-finals are often some of the highest quality displays of soccer you will be fortunate enough to see all year. The best teams playing in the best competition, and without all the prim and pageantry surrounding a one-off final that sometimes ends up suffocating the affair.
I won’t lie to you, dear reader, this season’s semi-finals – one in particular anyway – is not exactly shaping up to be quite as electrifying on paper… but then again the soccer gods work in strange and mysterious ways, so perhaps lowered expectations will end up leading to all the more pleasure. Weirder things have happened. For now though sit back and let the soothing sounds of soccer gloriousness start getting your mind right for the afternoon ahead…
***********************
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Last week’s result and schedule for this week:
Traditional reminder for people itching to bet their house on the unders today and/or tomorrow: second legs of home-and-homes are often a little more balls-to-the-wall than first legs.
***
TUESDAY’S PICK
Liverpool [+155]
Barcelona [+155]
Draw [+265]
I won’t say the first leg sucked ALL the joy out of today’s game because that isn’t quite true – but even the most biased of Liverpool fans have to admit a lot of their will to fight has been wiped away over the last week or so. My thoughts on the situation as the game (and following few days) progressed:
Barcelona scored an early goal on a beautiful pass from Jordi Alba and deftly brilliant one-touch finish from Luis Suarez and Liverpool were still in fine shape.
A fortunate deflection led to an awkward thigh-shot by Suarez that bounced off the bar and directly onto Messi’s chest who slotted it home and THAT is when things got dicey for Liverpool – but I’d argue they were still salvageable.
Then Messi reminded us that this is his world and we are lucky to be alive to watch him exist in it.
And at that point things were looking prettttttttttttttttttttttty grim for Liverpool.
Finally, Mo Salah got his bell rung bad enough he had to get stretchered off against Newcastle on Saturday, thus joining Roberto Firmino on the bench for this game and… well… yeah. I’m just a crappy blogger not a miracle worker so I’m not really sure there is much for me to say at this point.
Barcelona are a damn good team so needing to beat them (at least) 3-0 is always going to be an uphill battle. Liverpool have several things going for them:
1) They have been largely unbeatable at Anfield
2) Barcelona’s defense ain’t all that
3) Barcelona’s willingness to sit back and let Liverpool control the play could – if they get an early goal (let alone two) – build some much-needed momentum and then who knows, right? Right?!??!?
Liverpool start up top with Sadio Mane flanked by Xherdan Shaqiri and Big Swinging Divock Origi.
Could they score some goals? No doubt, but to do so they are going to need Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson to be basically playing like attacking midfielders, which inevitably opens up a lot of space for Barcelona to counter attack.
I’m not saying miracles can’t happen. After all, Man City have defied all expectations by pulling themselves up by their bootstraps and put themselves in a position to win the league – crazy!
But if your balls are big enough to bet on Liverpool to advance without two of their best players in a hole this deep… suffice to say you are walking around with (comparative) watermelons dangling between your legs compared to my wee little raisins. What’s more, even if Liverpool start hot, one goal from Barcelona means they would have to score FIVE – meaning any momentum they may have built up would disappear immediately and they might end up sleepwalking through the rest of the game. In fact that would not surprise me at all.
But I’ll give Klopp & Co. some credit and say they come up with what might otherwise be a great 3-2 win for Liverpool that unfortunately ends up feeling like a total failure (in part because it kinda is).
*****************************************
Another bigggggggggggggg day tomorrow.
Holler,
Samuel Army