Barcelona 3-0 Liverpool
by James Nalton
at the Camp Nou

LIONEL MESSI scored one of the great European Cup goals to give his side a huge advantage going into the second leg of their Champions League semi-final tie against Liverpool.

Barcelona’s third goal, Messi’s second of the night, will linger long in the memory. A free kick, dispatched with effortless power and perfect placement which even caught his manager, Ernesto Valverde, off guard.

“Leo is always surprising,” said the Spaniard.

“We didn’t know what he was going to do. I don’t know how he does it but he always turns up when we need him most.”

Valverde played his part too, switching to a 4-4-2 in the second half to give his side more control, though Liverpool still had their chances and also enjoyed more possession than the hosts.

Mohamed Salah hit the post in the latter stages, while Sadio Mane and James Milner also missed opportunities to chalk up an away goal.

Luis Suarez scored Barcelona’s opener following an impressive move involving Arturo Vidal, Philippe Coutinho and Jordi Alba. But Messi went on to take the headlines, almost dribbling over the line for his first after Suarez had hit the bar, before stealing the show with his second.

It was a more mercurial Messi display than we’re used to. Rather than controlling the game in the Barcelona style, he went back to his South American roots to pop up at vital moments, gnawing away at Liverpool before all but knocking them out.

Messi has now scored eight free kicks this season, and it’s getting to the point where they almost feel as dangerous for the opposition as penalty kicks, but none have been more impressive or more important than this.

Though anything can happen in football, especially on European nights at Anfield, even Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp admitted that the lack of an away goal makes it extremely difficult.

“The Champions League is now like this, if you lose away it’s not a massive problem ... as long as you score a goal,” said Klopp.

“That’s the problem tonight. We didn’t score that goal so that makes our life now not easy.”

It is a difficult, almost impossible task for Liverpool, but few have made football look as easy as Messi who was operating on a different plane on Wednesday night.