Jurgen Klopp admitted Lionel Messi was \u201cunstoppable\u201d on Wednesday after he left Liverpool needing a miracle to reach the Champions League final.Luis Suarez poked in against his former club before Messi hit a late double, the second a stunning free-kick for his 600th Barca goal, as his team took a 3-0 lead from a pulsating semi-final first leg ahead of next week\u2019s return at Anfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe\u2019s unstoppable,\u201d said Klopp \nafterwards. \u201cObviously we couldn\u2019t defend the free-kick. What a strike. \nHe\u2019s a world-class player but I knew that already. It\u2019s no \nsurprise.\u201dKlopp could only smile after Messi\u2019s curling shot nestled in \nthe top corner but this result was harsh on his side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It had been\n a breathtaking contest befitting two of Europe\u2019s most exhilarating \nteams. The first half was electric, a reel of chances, breaks and \nblocks, while the second was tense, a tactical battle where Barca dared \nLiverpool to over-exert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The comeback will be even tougher for \nthem given Barcelona, with La Liga wrapped up, will surely rest a host \nof players against Celta Vigo this weekend while Liverpool, a point \nbehind Premier League leaders Manchester City, will have to be at full \nthrottle again away at Newcastle on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They matched \nBarcelona in the first half, dominated them early in the second and \ncould still have left with an away goal after Messi\u2019s brilliant brace, \nonly for Mohamed Salah to hit the post.\u201cI said to the boys I was proud \nof how we played against a side like this,\u201d Klopp said. \u201cIf you lose \naway it\u2019s not a massive problem as long as you score a goal. That\u2019s our \nproblem tonight – it doesn\u2019t make our life any easier.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Messi was\n already fresh, after playing just over half the La Liga minutes he \ncould have done in April, and he looked sharp early on, weaving through \nthe centre while for Liverpool, the sensational Sadio Mane raced down \nthe left.The attacks were scintillating but the defending was good too. \nAndy Robertson scrambled across to block Messi\u2019s finish from six yards \nand moments later it was Sergi Roberto on the slide, preventing Mane \nfrom sprinting clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A minute later came the goal. Arturo Vidal \nsprayed the ball left to Philippe Coutinho, who cushioned back for Jordi\n Alba. Alba shaped to cross but instead curved a perfectly weighted pass\n to the near post, where Suarez nipped in.
Liverpool came again. Mane\n scampered in behind then flicked the ball round Sergio Busquets. He \nshould have scored too, Henderson\u2019s cross finding him free from eight \nyards but the shot flew over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Barca took control just as Suarez \nbegan to lose it, irked by James Milner barging Messi into the \nsideboards after the Argentinian had danced past Robertson.But Liverpool\n were re-energised at the start of the second half. Marc-Andre ter \nStegen pushed away shots from Milner and Salah, and held a Milner drive.\n \n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jurgen Klopp admitted Lionel Messi was \u201cunstoppable\u201d on Wednesday after he left Liverpool needing a miracle to reach the Champions League final.Luis Suarez poked in against his former club before Messi hit a late double, the second a stunning free-kick for his 600th Barca goal, as his team took a 3-0 lead from a pulsating […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60435,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60434","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60434"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60434\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60436,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60434\/revisions\/60436"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}