Liverpool book a date with Madrid in the UEFA Champions League Final

Liverpool have been the surprise package in this year’s UEFA Champions League tournament. They have swooped past some teams in style with their free-scoring abilities. The Jurgen press has been effective in their games as they have knocked an attacking team like Manchester City and beating Roma 5-2 in the first leg of the semifinals. It was not going to be easy for them to replicate that scoreline especially considering what Roma did against Barcelona. They were aware of the fact that they could not afford to rest and allow Roma to come to them and counter on the break. Klopp asked his men for more and Sadio Mane delivered the first goal for Liverpool. It was a mountain to climb for Roma who needed to score 4 to qualify without a reply from Liverpool. They reduced that goal count to just 3 when Milner scored an own goal from a dangerous cross by Florenzi on the right.

Roma failed to capitalize on the countless chances that they were creating and they were punished by Wijnaldum who scored Liverpool’s second of the night. From then, it was all Roma. Daniel De Rossi showed his class as he was instigating the attacks by his Pirlo-like passes as well as controlling the tempo. Roma looked a different team in the second period which gave them confidence leading to Dzeko’s goal. Time was running out for the Italian team with the scoreline at 2-2. Nainggolan did what he does best, as he connected to a pass from the left and he scored a 25-yard drive past Karius.

Game on, it was. Roma created chances in a match that was full of penalty claims by both teams. The referee finally gave a penalty to Roma and Nainggolan who scored in the 94th minute. All they needed was just a goal to take the tie to extra-time. It would have been another amazing comeback but they were out of time. The referee blew the whistle soon after Liverpool played from the center. What an amazing run it has been for Klopp and his team? They have secured a medal for themselves. It is just a matter of finding out whether it will be gold or silver as they take on the Los Blancos in the final.

UCL Road to Kiev Final: Roma vs Liverpool

The story of the season so far has been the meteoric rise of Mohamed Salah. Purchased from Roma last summer for what was then a highly scrutinized fee, Liverpool have given him the stage to show his many talents and take that next step in becoming a truly World Class player. The first leg was symbolic of his entire season. With 2 goals and 2 assists, it wasn’t until he was substituted that Roma looked to have any advantages in the game. Roma have proven that they can find a solution for 3 goal deficits to Barcelona’s chagrin, and they will be hoping the Stadio Olympico inspires another comeback on Wednesday. After winning 4-1 at the weekend in their Serie A match against Crotone, they will be hoping for the same exact scoreline against Liverpool. Credit must be given to Jurgen Klopp who has inspired his side this far in the Champions League and brought back genuine excitement amongst the rabid Liverpool fans.

The winner of this tie will already know who they are facing in the final in Kiev on May 26th. Di Francesco will need to make sure his tactics are better than they were in the first leg if he is to hope for another dramatic comeback like the one he produced against Barcelona. With a newly signed contract extension, Roberto Firmino will be leading the line and hope to lead Liverpool to their first Champions League final in over a decade. All eyes will be on how Liverpool handle the early moments of the game, however, especially given that Manchester City scored early against them the last tie, but Klopp’s men were able to still produce a clinical display of quick, sharp counterattacking football to dispose of Manchester City. Dzeko vs Salah will prove to be the matchup that in all likelihood shapes how this second leg will play out.

Roma could dispose of Liverpool with the same 3-0 scoreline they produced the last time they played at the Stadio Olimpico.

Liverpool will be hoping Mane is fit and ready to go after reportedly visiting a hospital after the first leg. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will, unfortunately, miss out after suffering a season-ending knee injury in the first leg.

James Milner is a player reborn with Liverpool and leads all players in assists this campaign with a record 9 assists this season in Champions League.

Mo Salah on target as Liverpool win 5-2 at home

The Egyptian King showed no mercy on his return. We are almost running out of words of describing Mo Salah’s debut season in England. The Liverpool forward has been on fire this season and has already scored 31 league goals. Liverpool were wounded by losing Coutinho in January but Salah has made that loss almost look like it is not a big deal. Roma also lost Palmieri who left for Chelsea, Salah who left for Liverpool as well as their legend Totti who went into retirement. The two teams are almost in the same predicament but they have believed in their abilities this season which has seen them go places.

Liverpool faced Roma tonight in the first leg of the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League and this feature was unthinkable at the start of the season. The most obvious names of PSG, Juventus, Barcelona, Manchester City, and Manchester United are already out but yet these two teams remain. Liverpool kicked off the match with a fierce attacking play that saw them create chances that were missed by Mane and Firmino in succession. It took a while before the man of the moment found the back of the net from a nicely curled effort at the edge of the box. Salah could not celebrate out of respect for his former club but what a beautiful strike it was. With his abilities, Messi has not been missed at this stage of the competition. Dejan Lovren almost made it 2-0 to Liverpool when his header hit the crossbar. Liverpool were eager to score more and Firmino found Salah on the break and the forward chipped the ball over the keeper to score his second of the night in the 45th minute. This was his 43rd goal of the season and he is now 3 shy of the all-time record at Liverpool held by Ian Rush who was in the stands to watch the African player shine against Roma.

Sadio Mane came from the break to score on the 56th minute to make it 3-0 to Liverpool. It looked all Liverpool in this match before the man of the match, Roberto Firmino scored a brace between the 61st and the 68th minutes. 5-0! Surely, Roma were out. But the team continued to fight until they scored two; the first from Dzeko and a penalty from Perotti in the 85th minute. Roma reduced the defeat to 3 goals and are planning to pull off another come back like they did against Barcelona. Will they make Liverpool regret conceding two goals in this 5-2 win at home?

Salah returns and shutters Manchester City’s hopes

The two clubs met in the second leg of the clash where Manchester City were hopeful of not cutting down the 3-0 deficit from the first but also to turn around the tie into their favor and qualify to the next round. People were interested in finding out if Salah was going to start the match or not after picking up a groin injury in the first leg of this clash. It was a relief for the Liverpool fans when they heard that their start man was available for contention. Pep Guardiola made changes to the team that played the away leg as he introduced Raheem Sterling and Laporte back to the squad ahead of Gundogan and Kompany. The shocking omission was Aguero who was benched for Jesus in an attacking team filled with pacey forwards. The match kicked off with high expectations on both teams to produce an amazing performance.  Manchester City was off to a good start as they dispossessed Van Dijk and Sterling fed Jesus to score the first. It was 1-0 after 3 minutes and Liverpool were definitely parking. Manchester City dominated the first half and created many chances that should have hit the back of the net. Bernardo Silva hit the post once and Sane put the ball into the net but the ball was controversially ruled offside. City really felt hard done in a match that was intense and saw the referee producing about 5 yellow cards and saw Pep Guardiola being sent to the stands for his outrageous reaction at half-time. Arteta was under pressure as he was the man-in charge and Liverpool scored an equalizer through Salah after Mane’s brilliant run. The Manchester club had a mountain to climb as they needed to score 4 more goals to qualify. Aguero was introduced at the expense of David Silva but the damage was done. The match ended 2-1 to Liverpool after Firmino scored the second on the 77th minute which means that Liverpool are through to the semifinals with a 5-1 aggregate score. The Egyptian has once again made the difference in a big match as he scored a killer blow. It has been a while since Africa had a player that would contend for the Ballon d’Or. Mo Salah is a contender this year. What’s your take?

In other news, Barcelona were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League after losing 3-0 to Roma away from home. Roma had scored an away goal in their first leg where they lost 4-1. The scorers on this day were De Rossi, Dzeko and Manolas. Roma had enough to eliminate Barcelona by overturning a 3-0 deficit for the first time in the history of the UEFA Champions League.

Sevilla grinded out a 2-1 win to join Madrid in the UCL quarters

A late show from Sevilla downed Manchester United who were below par on Tuesday night. Ben Yedder scored two goals in quick succession, one at the 74th and the other at the 77th minute to secure a comfortable 2 goal advantage before Romelu Lukaku scored for Jose Mourinho’s team on the 84th minute. This result can come as a shocker to a few, but those that followed the club during its Europa League campaigns should know that Sevilla are a well-disciplined team that can bring the game to you from the first minute till the final whistle. Manchester United have learned that the hard way as they have been knocked out of the competition which many hoped that Jose Mourinho would mount a challenge in. In other news, AS Roma also qualified into the last 8 teams in the tournament after beating Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 thanks to an Edin Dzeko goal. This means that they have qualified on away goal’s rule having scored one goal in the first leg of the clash. That’s a wrap! The rest of the teams will be confirmed on Wednesday.