I’m a fan of Everton, the Liverpool football club’s city nemesis in top-flight English soccer. But even I can salute Liverpool today. Their win against Barcelona on Tuesday was extraordinary.
Entering Tuesday’s second leg semifinal game, Liverpool were 3-0 down on aggregate. Few observers seriously thought they could come back. Barcelona, after all, are commonly regarded as the world’s best soccer club. Led by the lethal Lionel Messi, Barcelona were expected to beat Liverpool without much sweat.
Instead, with an aggressive relentlessness that would make George Patton proud, Liverpool seized the initiative. A seventh-minute goal from Divock Origi gave Liverpool hope. And while Barcelona had good scoring opportunities in the first half, their efforts were swept aside by Liverpool’s superb Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson Becker. At half time it was 1-0, Liverpool had hope.
Then Georginio Wijnaldum scored two goals in the 54th and 56th minutes to send Liverpool to 3-0. Barcelona panicked, and then Trent Alexander-Arnold delivered the final blow. Taking a corner, the young defender noticed that Barcelona’s defense had given Origi space in the center of the box. Alexander-Arnold made them pay for it, sweeping in a low corner to Origi’s waiting feet. The scoreboard went to 4-0, and Barcelona’s defense stood speechless.
It was over, Liverpool had secured an exceptional win.
The second-best soccer club in Liverpool city will now play Tottenham Hotspur or Ajax (who play Wednesday afternoon U.S. eastern time) in the Champions League final.
But this isn’t the first time Liverpool have come back against the odds. In the tournament’s 2005 final against A.C. Milan, Liverpool went into halftime down 3-0. They then came back to score three goals and take the game to overtime, where they won on penalties.
These two victories now leave Liverpool with a great intimidation factor for all future Champions League tournaments. Even when Liverpool are down, they’ll never be ruled out. Because they’ve proven themselves the comeback kings.
