A round-up from the Champions League including Liverpool fans destroying the Man City team coach on a night to forget for Pep Guardiola and Barcelona thump Roma in Spain.
Some call it their religion.
Players are Gods.
In 1982, I was taken from my slumber to watch West Germany play France in the World Cup. The style and panache of Michel Platini and Jean Tigana acting like a drug injected into my eyeballs.
It was there for life.
But there is something sinister about football. It creates tribalism. The animal emerges, and when you hand the beast a couple of bottles of beer before kickoff, no cage can hold it back.
And at a club like Anfield.
A club that has sorrow and grief stitched into the tapestry decides on a night like this, to hurl bottles, cans and flares at the Manchester City bus. The gates of Anfield resembled a war zone, and if your child was there, then they were given their first injection.
You had better hope it’s not there for life.
If the purpose of destroying the Manchester City team bus was to leave the players battle-wrecked and fearful it worked. The last time Man City played at Anfield they lost 4-3, their only Premier League defeat of the season, so the warlike assault wasn’t warranted on that score.
Like Real Madrid the night before, there is something about the DNA of this great football club that turns ‘on’ during the Champions League. The five-time European Champions have made Anfield a Champions League fortress winning ten of fifteen matches in an unbeaten run leading to 2014.
And – according to Pep Guardiola – they have the best manager in the world for ‘attacking the back four’ in Jürgen Klopp, and boy did he attack the back four.
A good start was a necessity for the Reds, and they got it through their star man. Roberto Firmino saw his shot saved by Ederson but reacted quicker than the Liverpool defence to thread the ball to Mohamed Salah who finished from close range. The goal, his 38th of the season, came in the 12th minute.
City was still in the tie at this point. A goal down, but in control of their faculties. Then Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain picked up the ball 20-yards from goal and fired the ball into the back of the net with the speed of lightning.
“Until the 2-0 we were there,” said Guardiola after the match.
Even at 2-0 City fans would have been confident of overturning the deficit at the Etihad, but 3-0? That’s the challenge after 31-minutes when Salah crossed into the six-yard box, and the diminutive figure of Sadio Mané managed to get on the end of it and head it home.
The second half was predictable.
Liverpool sat back protecting their lead, and City went at them. But they were a little gummy up front, and for the first time this season they failed to find the target with a single shot.
Can City do the impossible?
The bookies think they are a 16/1 shot.
If you’re quick, you can still pick Liverpool up at 6/1, and that’s not a bad shout.
Barcelona 4 v 1 Roma
Barcelona replaces Man City as the joint-favourites to take the title after a convincing victory against Roma at the Nou Camp. It felt like Barcelona was playing with 13-men after Roma players Daniele de Rossi and Kostas Manolas scored the opening goals for the Spaniards. Gerard Pique and a first Champions League goal in ten for Luis Suarez ensured they could compete in Italy with one foot on the break. Edin Dzeko scored a consolation goal for Roma.
The win keeps Barcelona’s treble dreams alive. They are nine points ahead of Atletico at the top of La Liga with eight games remaining, and face Sevilla in the final of the Copa del Rey at the end of the month.
They haven’t reached the semi-final of the Champions League since the 2014/15 season.
Champions League Odds
Barcelona 9/4
Real Madrid 9/4
Bayern Munich 3/1
Liverpool 11/2
Man City 16/1
Sevilla 150/1
Juventus 250/1
Roma 250/1
