Liverpool defied all odds on Tuesday, coming back from a 3-0 deficit against Barcelona, to win 4-0 at Anfield, with the Spanish giants completely crumbling under pressure, with Liverpool reaching their second UEFA Champions League final in two years.
This unlikely turn of events has led to plenty of people praising Liverpool's work-ethic and desire to win the match. One of their former players, Alan Kennedy, who won the European Cup twice with Liverpool, said that it "was a great team effort by Liverpool." He also added that "They showed great determination even on the back of not having two of their best players [Salah and Firmino]."
One of the key players in the win, Xherdan Shaqiri, highlighted how much emotion the players showed during and after the match, with him claiming that the Liverpool players were in tears after the win. The Swiss winger said that they "were celebrating, some of the guys were crying."
However, whilst there has been plenty of praise directed towards Liverpool, plenty of critics have criticised Barcelona for how awful they were against the English title challengers.
One of those critics was former England coach, Fabio Capello, who verbally destroyed Ernesto Valverde for the manner in which they lost. The Italian told Sky Sports that he thought "Valverde was a bit pretentious. He should have done something different, he went to Liverpool with the same line-up of the previous week. He thought Vidal would have been enough to stop Liverpool." He went on to criticise on of the players in particular, the former Liverpool player, Philippe Coutinho, claiming that he "should have been left on the bench," as "When he plays away games he is useless".
Whilst Valverde went on to apologise for the performance, labelling it a "terrible result for our fans and ourselves." He went on to say that "We are really sorry. Everything we do, everything we play for, everything footballers do for their living is to bring joy to the fans, so they can be proud of the players."
Whoever you support, Liverpool's comeback against Barcelona has to be marked as one of the greatest comebacks ever achieved, especially considering that they had a weakened side, against what is considered to be one of the greatest European sides in recent years.
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