Jose Mourinho has given some rare praise to Liverpool ahead of their crunch Champions League semi-final tie against Barcelona .
There was no love lost between Mourinho and the club during his time as Chelsea and Manchester United manager, but he believes the Reds could well end the season with the glory of a sixth European cup win in the club's history.
The Reds face the catalan club in the Nou Camp tonight hoping to continue their quest to win a famous double.
And Mourinho thinks the Reds have every chance of beating slight favourites Barcelona and progressing to a final against either Ajax or Tottenham .
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He said: “ Liverpool ’s strength, [Virgil] van Dijk is phenomenal, and then every game, OK, not every game, but here, here, here, not here, here, here, here, Firmino, Salah, Mane, they score and they score and they score.
“Tell me a game where Salah, Firmino, Mane all three together they didn’t score. It’s very rare."
He added that he sees both sides as having a completely equal chance of winning the tie.
“The reality is that Liverpool last season, they played the final, and this season they are in the semi-finals with, in my opinion, 50 percent chances of being in the final,” he said.
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“I think if Barcelona plays in Liverpool, the second leg, in the same way they played the first leg at Old Trafford, they will be in trouble.
“So, I think in the first match Barcelona will go obviously to try to be in front, but as we were saying before, Mane, Salah, Firmino – not so direct, but the way he links the play – they are very dangerous, they can also hurt Barcelona,” he added.
Mourinho has yet to return to management following his departure from United in December.
