THAT NIGHT IN BARCELONA
In the buildup to Wednesday’s Big Cup semi-final first leg between Liverpool and Barcelona, some commendably optimistic Top Red cobbled together a montage of Virgil van Dijk’s best bits from his only previous appearance at the Camp Nou. Edited in such a way as to make our hero look like a human portcullis and posted on assorted social media disgraces, the 58-second clip showed the then Queen’s Celtic defender sprinting, blocking, intercepting, shepherding and tackling like a man possessed. What it failed to even hint at, was that for all Virgil’s heroic gadding about, his team actually lost 6-1.
Should the same propagandist decide to cut a similar montage from this game to show how good Liverpool were, he’ll have no shortage of material to splice and dice, although Virgil is unlikely to have a starring role this time. Despite dominating for long spells and creating enough chances to score three, four or even five away goals against such exalted opposition, Liverpool somehow contrived to lose 3-0. “I don’t know if we can play much better,” said Jürgen Klopp, after watching his side go down to an opportunistic Luis Suárez strike, followed up by a couple of routine tap-ins from Leo Messi. “I think it was the best away game in [Big Cup] – not only this year, last year included. I told the boys I’m proud of how we played. Against a side like this, playing this kind of football, I was completely happy.”
If Liverpool, as Klopp suggests, are incapable of playing any better then they will have to maintain these levels, add some goals and hope Barcelona don’t turn up for the return leg next Tuesday. By literally not turning up they would, at the very least, forfeit the game 3-0, which would put Liverpool right back in the tie. As implausible a scenario as that sounds, Liverpool can at least take solace from the fact that Barça have previous in the field of blowing a three-goal first-leg lead, against Roma last season, and are therefore … em, staggeringly unlikely to do anything so careless again. But first, there is the small matter of a Saturday evening trip to Newcastle to contend with, as they return their focus to the Holy Grail that is the Premier League. “That’s all our focus,” said Klopp. “We go to the hotel, have a proper sleep, get up in the morning, fly home and then prepare for Newcastle.” To have a proper sleep, per chance to dream of what might have been without that pesky Leo Messi.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I remember my first game. I was up against [Romelu] Lukaku and there were a couple of 50-50 challenges early on and I went into this challenge hard, down on the ground and came away with the ball and suddenly the noise in the Emirates … It was as if I had scored” – Valencia’s Gabriel Paulista gets his chat on with Sid Lowe before taking on Arsenal in their Big Vase semi-final.
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FIVER LETTERS
“In terms of the hoo-hah about Luis Suárez celebrating against Liverpool, I would have thought much less of him if he hadn’t. His ability to wind up absolutely everyone was part of why we Liverpool fans loved him, and it would be sad to think he’d lost that. And in that same vein, I hope he gets a red card in the second leg and misses the final (no, I’m not expecting another 3-0 turnaround)” – Tim Woods.
“Siri, show me a clear example of a thoroughly unconvincing team for two-thirds of the game with a nervous defence, an invisible midfield and the greatest player in the history of the game constantly giving the ball away, that somehow manages to win 3-0 so we all have to constantly fawn over them because of the result” – Noble Francis.
“Now that Mesut Özil has declared that he won’t be doing anything to turn off the tap that gushes £350,000 a week into his bank account, may I also tell the world my own news? I shan’t be doing anything to change my very comfortable and pleasantly undemanding life. I never knew he and I had so much in common” – Charles Antaki.
Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. And you can always tweet The Fiver via @guardian_sport. Today’s winner of our prizeless letter o’the day is … Tim Woods.
NEWS, BITS AND BOBS
Iker Casillas is recovering in hospital after suffering a heart attack during Porto training. “Everything under control here,” he said. “A big scare, but holding strong. Thank you everyone for the messages and the support.”
Manchester City are aiming for a cup double in the Women’s FA Cup final against West Ham to make up for losing out to Arsenal in the league. “To get potentially 50,000 at Wembley would underline the interest in the women’s game in this country,” tooted Steph Houghton. “This is what we dreamed about when we started playing.”
Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg, who has chosen not to play for Norway since 2017, has been left out of their Women’s World Cup squad. “We tried to solve it, we had meetings, but she decided not to play,” sighed coach Martin Sjögren.
Maurizio Sarri accepts Chelsea will prioritise a top-four finish ahead of winning Big Vase to get back into Big Cup. “Of course [Big Vase] is important – it’s a very important trophy,” he parped. “But we need to think about the Premier League.”
David Moyes has been flapping his gums on the radio about the last time he cried. “Probably when I was sacked by Manchester United,” he sobbed. “I feel that since I took over to where they are just now, I don’t think there’s an awful lot of difference.”
And Plymouth’s Ruben Lameiras could be about to swap League One for Ligue 1 now that English third-tier fanciers Bordeaux are sniffing around.
STILL WANT MORE?
Lionel Messi > Mo Salah, writes Barney Ronay.
Footballing-brain-in-a-jar Jonathan Wilson watched Barcelona v Liverpool, then watched it again, and wrote this on Klopp, Messi and taking risks.
And here’s Sid Lowe on Luis Suárez, who was back to his uncompromising best against his old club.
Phil Jones is the pass master, Ryan Fraser is chasing down Messi as the assist king, and Paul Pogba has got his eye in. Martin Laurence has more eyebrow-raising stats, for your reading pleasure.
Arsenal in Europe, you say? Everything is going to be just fine, explains Amy Lawrence.
Keeping track of the title/play-offs/survival race is more exhausting than the London Marathon, so Niall McVeigh is painstakingly updating this handy article.
Oh, and if it’s your thing … you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. And INSTACHAT, TOO!
