Barcelona v Liverpool Betting Tips: Can the Reds grab an away goal?
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Odds and preview for Champions League semi-final
Jurgen Klopp and his Liverpool side are fighting for a double this season, but if they want to keep their ambitions alive, they face their toughest test so far against La Liga champions Barcelona at the Camp Nou.
The Reds remain the only English side to have beaten Barcelona on their own patch, and they’ll be hoping history can repeat itself to get one step in the Champions League final for a second successive season.
Ahead of tonight’s first leg on BT Sport 2HD at 8:00pm, you’ll find all the odds and info right here…
Head-to-Head
Despite the stature of the two clubs, they’ve only faced each other eight times in European competitions.
Liverpool have notched three wins to Barcelona’s two, with the pair’s last meetings coming back in 2007. Liverpool grabbed a crucial 2-1 away win at Camp Nou, coming from behind to take the advantage back to Anfield thanks to goals from Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise.
Barcelona won the second leg at Anfield 1-0, with Eidur Gudjohnsen grabbing the only goal.
Likely XIs
Barcelona: Ter Stegen; Semedo, Pique, Lenglet, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Vidal; Messi, Suarez, Coutinho.
Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Keita; Salah, Firmino, Mane.
Barcelona manager Ernesto Valderde will look to stick with most of the same players that claimed the La Liga title in a 1-0 win against Levante on Saturday.
His only injury concern coming into the game is Rafinha, who is sidelined with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Valderde is likely to change his attacking options, with Lionel Messi returning from his bench role to lead the Barca attack alongside former Liverpool stars Luis Suarez and Philippe Coutinho.
Klopp can’t afford to rest any of his best players until the end of the season now, especially with the close battle with Manchester City for the Premier League title.
Roberto Firmino returned to training this week after missing out against Huddersfield in the league with a small muscle tear.
Fabinho could also return to the starting XI to shore up the midfield, with Georginio Wijnaldum stepping aside.
Key Battles
For both sides, it’s a battle between the wingers and the full-backs.
Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold have coped with everything thrown at them this season, but can they deal with the constant threat of Messi, and will they contain the threat they know Coutinho possesses?
As for Barca, they’ll be hoping that Nelson Semedo can put in a better shift than Sergi Roberto did against Manchester United. The Red Devils had great joy down Barca’s right-hand side, with a more clinical side punishing the Catalan side.
They’ll look to match the pace of the Reds’ wingers with Semedo and Jordi Alba covering Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah.
If Klopp opts for a midfield three of Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita and Fabinho, he’ll hope that they can restrict the time Ivan Rakitic has in the middle of the park to create opportunities for the Barca front three.
Match Odds
Barcelona are comfortably favourites to grab the first leg advantage at 10/11 but at 3/1, it’s hard to rule Liverpool out from silencing the Camp Nou.
The crucial thing for Liverpool is grabbing an away goal. If you’re backing Both Teams to Score tonight, that’s priced at 4/6, with a Barca win and Both Teams to Score favoured at 13/5.
Messi has already reached double figures in terms of goals in this season’s champions League, with the Argentinean magician netting 10 goals. He’s the 5/2 favourite to break the deadlock, or there’s 4/5 about him scoring anytime.
Can Suarez grab his first Champions League goal of the season against his former employers? We’ve got 13/10 on the Uruguayan scoring anytime.
Liverpool’s front three have all scored four Champions League goals. On current form, Salah and Mane are virtually unstoppable. They’re both 6/1 to break the deadlock, or you can get 23/10 on a goal from either of them anytime.
View the latest Barcelona v Liverpool odds at Coral.
All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.
