Barcelona look to avoid another Roma-like collapse

Barcelona look to advance to the Champions League final and make up for last season’s embarrassing elimination.

Barcelona will try to exorcise their demons left over from their collapse against Roma when they take on Liverpool in their second leg of their Champions League semifinal. On that occasion, Barcelona also had a three-goal lead heading into the second leg.

The wounds of Roma are still fresh considering Ernesto Valverde made mention of it after their win against Liverpool and has had to answer questions about prior to their match against Liverpool.

In a report by Goal, he said, “It’s an experience to learn from, but the good thing about football is you always get another chance.”

Complacency is something Valverde’s Barcelona side will look to avoid. To think that they’re through to the final because of the first leg result would be foolish. Plenty of teams have come back in recent memory to turn a tie around. This season, we’ve seen teams like Ajax and Manchester United come back from first leg deficits to go through.

Ernesto Valverde also looks to redeem himself after he was given the blame for Barcelona’s elimination at the hands of Rome. He knows this as well.

Against Roma, Barcelona played really conservatively and ceded the initiative to the Italians and they made Barcelona pay. The advantage they have going in this time is that they did not conceded a goal in the first leg. In the end, it was the away goal that did the Catalan team last season.

According to Mundo Deportivo, Valverde said, “The 3-0 does not change anything. We come as if there was nothing before and with the idea of going out to win.”

He also mentioned that Barcelona will go out and attack with the idea of getting an away goal and making Liverpool’s task that much more improbable.

He’ll have everyone at his disposal except for Ousmane Dembele who suffered a hamstring injury in Barcelona’s game against Celta Vigo. Dembele would have been a key threat to take advantage of the space Liverpool is likely to leave open as they chase a goal. We saw the impact he made in those few minutes in the first leg.

However, even without Dembele, Ernesto Valverde has different options and tactics he could use depending on how attack-minded he wants to be early on. He could play a 4-3-3 and use the same line-up he used the first time with Coutinho on the left of the front three and Arturo Vidal in midfield in place of Arthur. The problem with that is Andy Robertson and Sadio Mane caused Barcelona headaches getting behind Sergi Roberto and Gerard Pique often.

Because of that, Valverde could also go with a 4-4-2 and have another body in midfielder. Sergi Roberto would be the likely candidate to serve as that extra midfielder with Nelson Semedo as the right-back and Rakitic accompanying Sergio Busquets in a double-pivot. But if he wants to be more adventurous, Carles Aleña would be the ideal choice as he has the ability to hold the ball and deliver a through-ball should Arthur not start. He’d also be able to track back better than Sergi Roberto and provide an outlet playing from the back. It would be a risk but a calculated one.

It would take something extraordinary or a dismal performance from Barcelona for Liverpool to be able to turn this tie around. It’s imperative that Barcelona come out fully focused to avoid another collapse. With Lionel Messi placing an emphasis on the Champions League at the start of the season, the rest of the players need to match his intensity. Judging what we saw at the Camp Nou, Messi will ensure his team is focused and that they reach the final at the Wanda Metropolitano.