ICC 2016 : Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona - Five Talking Points
Vibrant Liverpool pulled no punches as they annihilated Barcelona 4-0 at Wembley to send shock waves across the globe. Sadio Mane, Divock Origi, Marko Grujic and an own goal from Javier Mascherano did the damage as the Spanish champions were given a bolt out of the blue.
The Reds dominated the proceedings right from the start and Mane took just 14 minutes to trigger the onslaught, following some near misses. With the scoreline reading just 1-0 in Liverpool’s favour despite a sparkling half. Their efforts paid off in the second half as Mascherano stumbled the ball into his own net 5 minutes after the break, and Origi made it 3-0 just 30 seconds later.
Barcelona, who by then, were like a deer caught in the headlights, gained some footing in the game as it wore on, but Serbian youngster Grujic added more gloss to an already unbelievable scoreline with a fantastic header beyond Claudio Bravo for 4-0 deep in extra-time.
Luis Enrique’s side were given a harsh reality check ahead of the new season, whereas Liverpool wrap up their preparations for next week’s EPL opener in the most emphatic way possible. Here are some of the talking points from the Wembley spectacle.
#1 Barcelona left horribly exposed
s relentless pressing left Barcelona down to bare bones.
The pre-season games hardly weigh any significance, but a defeat of this magnitude spells some trouble. Barcelona were completely outclassed, outplayed and outmaneuvered by a clinical Liverpool, sending manager Enrique into some introspection before the Spanish Super Cup against Sevilla.
Enrique played an experimental defensive quartet of Aleix Vidal, Jeremy Mathieu, Javier Mascherano and Juan Camara, and it showed. The back-line was taken to the cleaners by the speed and agility of Mane, Firmino and Coutinho, and also left acres of space at the back for them to run in to.
Liverpool’s high-pressing game unsettled the Catalans, who looked out of sorts from the very beginning. A huge, huge reality check for the Spanish champions.