Champions League: Can Liverpool exploit Barcelona's weaknesses in the semis?
FC Barcelona have been in terrific form of late and look well on course for a historic treble. But Ernesto Valverde's side will be up against a tough opponent in the form of Jurgen Klopp's fast-pressing and pacy Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League semi-finals.
On paper Barcelona seem like the better side. But they do have one major weakness - having sluggish starts to their games, where there defense is error-prone and takes time to settle. If Liverpool can exploit that weakness, then we could have a very evenly-matched battle on our hands.
Liverpool are having an impressive season under Klopp, with their front three of Mohammed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane plundering goals. Their defence, led by PFA Player of the Year Virgil van Dijk, has been the stingiest in all of England. They are hot on the heels of English Premier League leaders Manchester City, just one point separating the two.
Barcelona themselves are on an all-conquering run this season. They steamrolled past Manchester United 4-0 to reach the Champions League semi-finals, and have a nine-point lead at the top of LaLiga with only four more games to go. Moreover, they have already booked their place in the Copa del Rey finals.
In short, Barcelona are on course for a historic 'treble treble'. They are already the only major European league side to have won two trebles, and a third would further solidify their reputation as one of the greatest club sides to have ever played the beautiful game.
That said, Barcelona's defence showed a few frailties in the early minutes of the UCL quarterfinal against Manchester Untied, which were not exploited by the Red Devils. In one of Barcelona's rare losses this season, in the first leg of the Copa del Rey quarterfinal, Sevilla employed fast wingers and high pressing to destabilize the Blaugrana's pass-from-behind style.
Barcelona's wing-backs are often caught high up the pitch, as can be seen in the highlights below. That can easily be leveraged by a quick counter-attacking outfit like Liverpool.
As can be seen in the video above, Pablo Sarabia's opener comes from a quick counter attack down the right wing of Barcelona's defence where right wing-back Sergi Roberto was caught out of position during a quick transition in play. Wissam Ben Yedder's second goal also materializes due to Roberto being out of position, with playmaker Ever Banega afforded acres of space to pick out a perfect pass.
If Liverpool can leverage the positional indiscipline of Barcelona's attack-minded wing-backs Jordi Alba and Sergi Roberto, the pace of Mane and Salah could open up a lot of goalscoring opportunities for them. Will Klopp focus on this aspect when the two teams take the field for the first leg of the semifinal?