Barcelona vs Liverpool 02/05/19

2 May 2019

Two in-form sides battle it out for the Champions League final as Barcelona come face-to-face with Liverpool at Camp Nou for the first leg of their semi-final tie.

The hosts have secured four straight competitive victories in the build-up to this meeting, with three of those triumphs saw them beat their rivals to nil. Additionally, Barca’s good run of form has seen them put together seven home wins across all competitions, with Ernesto Valverde’s men scoring 2+ match goals in six. Still unbeaten at home in the ongoing CL campaign (W4, D1), the Catalans also boast the best defensive home record in Europe’s top-tier competition (2). Having improved their defensive game drastically, the reigning La Liga holders have kept seven clean sheets across their previous ten competitive outings, allowing over 1.5 match goals once in the process. A potential worry for Barcelona could be the fact that Leo Messi and Co. have netted one goal or less in three of their last six competitive games.

Meanwhile, the visitors are enjoying a nice ride having racked up a ten-game winning run across all competitions that have seen Liverpool score 2+ match goals across all of those meetings. Moreover, all six of their previous competitive victories have been settled by at least two-goal margin in spite of the fact the Reds have had the first-half lead on just three occasions in that period. Moving up a gear in the second half, the Premier League giants have bagged 11 of their last 18 goals after the half-time break (61.11%). Furthermore, the Merseysiders are unbeaten on their last nine road trips across all competitions (W6, D3) as Jurgen Klopp’s men pull off two away wins in the CL knockout stage (over Bayern Munich and Porto) scoring over 2.5 match goals in each.