UEFA Champions League -- Messi magic leaves Liverpool in misery, Barcelona win 3-0
A 3-0 win for Barcelona in the first leg at the Nou Camp gives them one foot in the final.Lionel Messi hit the 600-goal mark for Barcelona after scoring twice with Luis Suarez giving Barca the lead during a breathless opening 45 minutes.
Liverpool dominated long stretches of the match but failed to finish their chances when they had the hosts on their back foot, especially early in the second half. Mohamed Salah still almost grabbed a valuable away goal for Liverpool late when he hit the post.
Liverpool doing to Barcelona what Barcelona normally do to the opposition with relentless closing down.The speed of Salah and Sadio Mane caused Barcelona problems throughout and a flurry of jitters in its backline. A soft challenge by Jordi Alba left Salah with the ball in the box, Gerard Pique erred on more than one pass, and Sergi Roberto simply could not keep up with Mane.
The ball skipped past a back tracking Virgil Dan Dijk and met the run of Suarez, who slid and used the tip of his right boot to tuck the ball past goalkeeper Alisson Becker.
James Milner and Salah drew the first quality saves from Marc-Andre ter Stegen just after the restart, as the German goalkeeper stretched to parry both their strikes. Milner then wasted a golden opportunity when Georginio Wijnaldum let a pass by Salah run through to the midfielder arriving unmarked in the centre of the area, only for Milner to fire into goalkeepers arms.
Seeing his team struggling, Valverde sent on defender Nelson Semedo for Coutinho, who unlike Suarez failed to impress against his former team.
Messi first was instinctive, as he followed up Suarez's shot that came off the bar, but the second was majestic as he found Alisson's top-right corner with an incredible free kick from around 25 yards out.That was his 600th goal for the Spanish giants.
It had been a breathtaking contest befitting two of Europe's most exciting and action packed teams.
Messi was a force at the other end, causing Liverpool to bend and almost break on several solo runs right through the heart of their defence until it finally gave way in the final minutes.
Liverpool face daunting task to overturn semi-final as Lionel Messi inspires crushing Barcelona win.
It's all over, and so are Liverpool's Champions League chances, probably. A 3-0 win for Barcelona in the first leg at the Nou Camp gives them one foot in the final.
