OT - Liverpool wins
Liverpool just pulled off a historic upset at their home field winning 4-0 over Barcelona. Mo Salah, their best player was out with a concussion and so was Roberto Firmino. Liverpool was a 12-1 underdog and Barcelona was 1-25.
But by winning 4-0, which is unheard of, Liverpool now advance to the Euro Cup finals. Barcelona had won the first game 3-0 so the series is a 4-3 Liverpool win.
Liverpool played at the Big House this summer so that's why I put this here. Jurgen Klopp is most popular man in Liverpool with a huge game this Sunday and Messi loses in the same fashion two years in a row.
Very cool sporting stuff.
This guy below gave Liverpool at Million to one chance, so I'm sure some of you bet that with him. Anyone....ANYONE??????
For folks who don't have perspective on the "other" football, this would have been like Michigan playing OSU at the Big House a week after The Game this past fall and winning 69-17.
Truly amazing accomplishment.
Liverpool now has the top 2 comebacks in champions league history. Impressive.
2005 final against Milan is the best and now this is #2. Crazy.
Man, being an Arsenal fan sucks.
If you think being an Arsenal fan sucks, why are you a fan? I'm guessing you aren't from North London so the inertia in your fandom is weak.
Arsenal is basically Michigan.
So is Liverpool in a sense if you take away yesterday, or if they end of losing to Tottenham/Ajax in the finals.
What's the craziest part is how many small things got Man City and Liverpool to where they are.
Liverpool scoring against Everton in the 96' after the Pickford error
Man City's John Stones clearing the ball off the line against Liverpool (Goal was about 12mm from being completely over the line).
That game alone could have sent Pool 10 points clear instead they drop it to 4 and the rest is history. What a season in the EPL and UCL.
I mean Arsenal was the team I watched when I got into following the Premier League after their Invincibles season. I’m not gonna just bandwagon successful clubs like everyone did when ManU was winning everything after NBC got the contract for the league.
I started watching United a few years before SAF retired. It's been all downhill since and i don't know what it will take for us to get back to fighting for titles. Both of our teams in the 2000's were solid. Now all we can hope for is a top 4 finish.
I’d rather see Man U being successful than City. City is everything wrong with current day soccer. No history, just a sugar daddy and bandwagon ManU fans who switched once they started losing
Something they have in common with PSG. Buy, buy, buy, dominate the league, choke in the champions league. United have spent a ton of money as well though so its not like i have any room to talk.
Sounds like you bandwagoned back in '04. What's one more? I like Arsenal but despise their malcontent fans. Especially the inauthentic American ones.
Barcelona’s 6-1 win in the second leg to comeback from their 4-0 loss to PSG in the first leg is probably still above yesterday’s comeback.
*chuckle*
No offense, but I'm trying to picture the guy reading this thread who couldn't mentally process 3-0 and 4-0.
That was the most absurd game I've watched live in awhile. ESPECIALLY because Liverpool were playing without Salah and Mane.
Also funny that Barca blew a 3 goal lead two years in a row.
Not to quibble, Mr. Norris, sir ... but Mané played.
Don't punch me!
Correct. It was Salah and Firmino that were out. Still. Two of their best players! Incredible.
The FC Liverpool fan in me is very, very pleased. I will put it that way.
Extra drinks tonight then.
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE!!!!
One of the best anthems in all of sports.
What you having LSA? Gonna pour some bourbon myself.
I'm hoping that the Spurs can get out of their late-season funk and move past Ajax today; although I don't have a lot of optimism about their chances against Liverpool should they make the Finals. They just aren't the same team without Harry Kane.
as a Barca fan, I've been telling people all season that Barca is not a good team, but they had Messi.
But today, when Messi couldn't bail them out, everyone saw how terrible they were.
I'm excited for them to sell off Coutinho ASAP
I mean. They're gonna win La Liga by ten points, they're gonna win the Copa del Rey and they made it to the semis of the CL before a singular epic collapse.
To say they're not a good team is a stretch. Hyperbole if you will.
Not really. I didn't say they didn't have a great season or put up great stats. They just aren't a good team. They are a singular player who has been dragging a bunch of overpaid busts to insane heights.
The front office has really struggled to replace the players who left like Iniesta, Xavi, Mascherano, and especially Pep. And once Neymar left, they really seemed to over spend that money on talent that had a lot of hype, but didn't seem to fit in with any real team strategy. Coutinho is still talented, but is clearly not a good fit.
Messi's insane season really papered over a lot of larger issues. So I stand by my statement that they are not a good team.
Huge Liverpool fan...by the ghost of Gerard that was a miracle of epic proportions. Statistically we should have won. Frankly the match at Barcelona should have been much closer and we dominated play from both possession and shots on goal. But to win that game that way...astounding
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE!!!
I don't watch a whole lot of soccer. Is Ajax considered a big underdog? I'm mainly saying that because I've heard of Liverpool, Barcelona, and Tottenham Hotspur (and I'm guessing that last team has a cool nickname), but I hadn't heard of Ajax and it looks like they had to "play-in" to the main tournament? (I just went on a wikipedia tangent about this)
I'm not the biggest soccer fan so someone correct me if I'm wrong:
They're the premier Dutch club team. They have a history of success in European competitions, won the CL in 95 and 3 straight in the 70s, but in recent years they've been a step below the elite teams you mention. They're generally very good but not title winning good. They produce a lot of very good players but can't afford to keep them into their prime so they sell them off to the Barca's of the world once they get too good/expensive.
So they're generally good. Right now is an uptick for them before they have to sell off some good players, most likely this summer, but they're not a Cinderella story like Leicester a few years back winning the Premier League.
Got it, thanks. They sound a bit like the Tampa Bay Rays of soccer, as opposed to...I dunno, Boise State? Salary caps make real underdogs hard to come by in the professional leagues we have. I guess it would be smart for me to appreciate soccer for what it is rather than try to equate it to the games I know haha
Boise State is a good comparison - one of the best teams in a lower league.
Yes, you put this well and to add a couple items to it. PSV and Feyenoord make up the trio of premier dutch teams, all with the ability to make a European run now and again.
To the other guy that compared them to the Rays, yeah, kind of like that. Or like the old Marlins. The Marlins teams that won in 97 and 2003 that had a bunch of good young players all at the right time and then sold them off immediately. The assets and trades from the first wave they used for the second.
Ajax doesn't have the deep pockets of the big teams but they're very good at developing talent and that has become a focus of theirs (Zlatan Ibrahimavic and others started their careers there). This year, they've hit with several young players like Matias de Ligt, Frenkie de Jong (the former will be sold for a lot, the latter already has been sold) and David Neres. And then they have a couple savvy veterans like Tadic and Huntelaar like those Marlins teams had Pudge and Urbina.
They are a surprise but not a total shock. They're a top 20 European team this year and were even money going into this series with Tottenham. They will be underdogs 70/30ish if they advance to play Liverpool.
Ibrahimovic started his international career in Ajax. His career started in Malmö FF in the swedish elite league where he was an elite player as an 18 year old.
Ajax is favored at even money, Hotspurs are 2-1 to win.
I'm generally not much of a soccer fan, outside of occasional Bundesliga games. So glad I decided to randomly check this game out. One of the best games I've seen in a long, long time. Amazing to me to see the crowd so into the game once Liverpool started scoring, the whole place was literally shaking-- including the camera.
You just described what makes the Premier league in particular, but European football as well, so great. Insane level of involvement by fans, and much much greater respect shown by the players to the club's fans. I mean, the scene after the game where all players were linked and they were singing You'll Never Walk Alone with the Liverpool fans is goosebumps (and tears, if like me you're a Reds fan) territory that is hard to imagine in the U.S.
I'm on cloud 9 right now...
...especially after Kompany's incredible strike saved Manchester City yesterday in the EPL race and hurt Liverpool's chances of ending the EPL title drought.
Edited for clarity.
If you're stoked about this game, but also stoked about MC winning...which team do you like?
You misunderstood (probably because I wasn't clear).
Kompany's wonderstrike saved Manchester City from a draw which would've given Liverpool the edge in winning the EPL.
And given that Liverpool hasn't won the EPL in nearly 30 years, I was rooting hard for Leicester City to squeeze out the draw. So I wasn't stoked about Kompany's goal.
2018-19 Liverpool is having an all-time EPL season but, prior to tonight's result, was on track to finish the season without any trophies.
I'm saying that this win over Barcelona still gives us Liverpool fans hope that we'll win at least 1 trophy.
YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE!!!
There is still a sliver of a chance from to take the Prem, Frank. Just need lowly Brighton to be inspired and take it to City ... and we've got to beat Wolverhampton of course.
Kompany scored in the 70th minute. City had relentless pressure when it was level. There's an excellent chance they would have scored later if Kompany was not on target. You're acting like it was at the death.
I've seen plenty of teams apply relentless pressure on overmatched teams and still end up with a draw. That game had the feel of either a scoreless draw or a 1-0 win (where one moment of brilliance would net a goal). Kompany rose to the occasion and delivered with a perfect strike.
Sure, it's possible it would have ended as a stalemate. Not trying to condescend. Just saying that it's easy to see City slipping one in on a tired Leicester squad in those final 20-25 minutes if they had to.
See: Arsenal and their predictable choke over the weekend.
Incredible game. I really didn't see that second half coming after Liverpool only managed to pick up one goal in the first.
YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE!!!!!
Amazing team effort. Allison came up HUGE all day, and the final goal was tricky piece of brilliance! I cannot forget the lads giving giving up their body (face to be more exact) to thwart Messi’s free kick late.
Sing it loud boys!
YOU’LL NEVER WALK ALONE!!!!
Let’s just hope Brighton gets inspired by this most improbable of comebacks and give LFC a chance to take the Premier League.
Inspired by what? Giving Liverpool the EPL crown? LFC is hated by English fans. The media has observed through social media and polling that most neutral fans of Premier League clubs are rooting for City to win the title.
Inspired to show some pride. Inspired by LFC's improbable comeback. IDK dude ... just trying to keep the little bit of hope alive. So after LFC beats Wolverhampton, do you think Brighton will just roll over to City and make no effort to win?
I'm saying I don't think any love of Liverpool is going to be a factor. Also, all games on Championship Sunday kick off at the same time.
Wolves have a better chance to take points from Liverpool than Brighton does vs. City, btw.
I'm happy for this group of LFC players to get a chance at UCL glory, but I love that the club has never won the Premier League (and gone almost 30 years without winning the top flight). With all due respect to Liverpool fans from here on the other side of the pond, their true fans are filth. They are the ravenous animals that much of this board wants to believe all OSU and MSU fans are and they've literally killed people. They deserve their misery.
DP*
Wolves have a better chance to take points from Liverpool than Brighton does vs. City, btw.
No doubt about that, Tr'Net.
I love the passion with which they play and was brought into the fold by a close friend and admittedly know very little about their supporters past history. I do know that Scousers are a notoriously rough lot, so the disdain doesn't surprise me in the least. As I said, I just love their passion and Mane and Salah are my two favorite players. Unfortunately, my other Prem team is Southampton (my brother-in-law is from Southampton and a diehard Saints supporter) and they're just happy to avoid relegation.