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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Ian Doyle

The alarming European trend Liverpool are desperate to stop against Barcelona in Champions League semi-final

Liverpool will aim to maintain one of their more proud records when they put their unbeaten Camp Nou run on the line against Barcelona this evening.

But there's another sequence the Reds will be desperate to bring an end to as they look to Barcelona defenders vs Liverpool attackers and other key battles that could decide Champions League semi-final first leg.

It's perhaps a surprise to discover Liverpool have lost their last five away legs in a European semi-final.

James Pearce reacts to Mane & Klopps Pre-match press conference

The most recent was last season's 4-2 loss at Roma in the second leg, which wasn't enough to prevent Jurgen Klopp's side winning 7-6 on aggregate.

In 2016, Klopp's men were beaten 1-0 at Villarreal in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final, but won 3-0 at Anfield.

Liverpool's Champions League trip to Barcelona is perfect time to prove Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho wrong 

Six years earlier, the Reds lost 1-0 at Atletico Madrid in the same competition, with a 2-1 win in the second leg seeing them dumped out on away goals.

The other two came against Chelsea in the Champions League. In 2008, a 3-2 defeat at Stamford Bridge saw the Reds tumble out after an earlier 1-1 draw at Anfield, but 12 months earlier a 1-0 loss in London was overturned in the return game with a 1-0 win and subsequent triumph on penalties.

Barcelona defenders vs Liverpool attackers and other key battles that could decide Champions League semi-final first leg 

All told, Liverpool haven't won in any of their last eight away semi-final legs, a run stretching back to the 1-0 triumph at Panathinaikos in the European Cup in 1985.

They have failed to score in six of those matches.

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