Magical Messi puts Barcelona in pole position for Champions League final

Barcelona 3-0 Liverpool

Liverpool have a mountain to climb at Anfield next week as despite an impressive performance, the genius of Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi saw Barcelona command a 3-0 lead in the Champions League semi-finals.

Barcelona threatened in the opening minutes, as they looked to put Liverpool on the back foot from the off. Ivan Rakitic found himself in behind Joel Matip and he tried to lash the ball across the face of goal to the awaiting Suarez, but the Liverpool defence managed to clear. The resulting corner saw Suarez head into the side netting, early warning signs for Jurgen Klopp’s men.

Sadio Mane thought he had won his side a penalty just minutes later, using his pace to torment Gerard Pique all through the first half.

It was just 10 minutes on the clock when the Camp Nou held its breath as Mane went down under pressure from the Spaniard. But the referee saw nothing wrong and waved for play to continue.

Messi soon tried to claim a penalty himself as the ball ricocheted around the box, with Joel Matip seemingly taking a swipe at the ball with his left hand. But again neither the referee or VAR recognised an infringement.

As the halfway point of the first half approached, Naby Keita was forced off through injury. The Senegal international hobbled off in discomfort holding his groin as club captain Jordan Henderson replaced him. It was minutes after that Barcelona took the lead.

Messi pulled the ball back from Jordi Alba to whip a cross into the near post where Suarez made a perfectly timed run between Matip and Van Dijk to beat the offside trap. The Uruguayan and former Liverpool player flicked the ball first time past the already committed Alisson to send the Camp Nou in raptures.

Liverpool could have gone into the break level when Mohamed Salah played Mane in behind the Barcelona defence yet again, but his left-footed effort was wild as it flew over that crossbar, Marc-André ter-Stegen was comfortable in the goal as he had been for most of the half.

Liverpool began the second half on the front foot as they looked to take the game to Barcelona, James Milner forced ter-Stegen into a couple of smart saves from the edge of the box, but Barcelona held firm as they looked to soak up the early pressure.

Sadio Mane was proving a nuisance with his direct attacking play as Sergio Roberto struggled to keep pace with the Senegalese winger. Ruben Semedo was introduced in place of Coutinho, Roberto moved to midfield as Semedo filled in at right back to nullify that threat.

Luis Suarez was starved of the ball for 20 minutes but was alert to expose the space in behind left by Matip, with Messi playing the Uruguayan forward in but Matip made an excellent recovery to keep the scorelines at 1-0.

That scoreline would not last though, Messi played in Sergio Roberto who was challenged by Van Dijk, the ball landing in the path of Suarez who improvised, using his knee to send the ball goalwards. The ball crashed against the crossbar and landed at the feet of the Barcelona captain who tapped the ball into an empty net.

The teams tired as the games entered its final phase and Fabinho went into the book for a bodycheck on Barca’s Argentina attacker Messi. The former Ballon D’Or winner got up, brushed himself down and killed the game with a sensational free kick.

From all of 30 yards, the 31-year-old fired a rocket of a shot into the top corner, leaving Alisson no chance and putting the hosts in the driving seat of the tie.

Five minutes of injury time were added on, Ernesto Valverde opted to run the clock down bringing Ousmane Dembele on in place of Luis Suarez and Carles Alena for Sergio Roberto.

Barcelona saw the game out to win 3-0 and will be confident of progress to the final even with a trip to Anfield planned for next week