UEFA Champions League: Liverpool vs Barcelona preview

Liverpool will attempt the impossible on Tuesday, when they host Barcelona at Anfield for the second leg of their UEFA Champions League semi-finals tie. The Reds would need to defeat Barcelona 3-0 to send the match into extra-time and that seems beyond belief even for their fans. Last week's defeat in the first leg was quite harsh for the Reds, Luis Suarez opened the scoring and then Lionel Messi bagged a double at Camp Nou. Before last week's match, the two teams had last met in the round of sixteen of the Champions League in 2007 and at that time Liverpool won 2-1 at Camp Nou before losing 1-0 at Anfield. Liverpool had a pretty rough week, first they suffered the 3-0 defeat at Camp Nou and then they struggled to get past Newcastle in the Premier League at the weekend. The Reds eventually won that match 3-2 and preserved their rather slim title chances before the final match of the season, but they suffered a pretty important loss during that game as Mohammed Salah was stretchered out in the second half. The Egyptian winger could recover in time for Tuesday's game and manager Jurgen Klopp will also hope to have Roberto Firmino back in his squad and ready to play. Naby Keita won't be able to play due to a groin injury that he picked up during last week's match at Camp Nou. Barcelona are almost certain of reaching the UEFA Champions League final, the first-leg result gives them that guarantee. The last time they lost 4-0 was in 2017, when they got hammered by Paris Saint-Germain, but then they fought back and grabbed a 6-1 victory in the second leg. At the weekend head coach Ernesto Valverde decided to rest all his star players, he fielded an experimental line-up and lost 2-0 at Celta Vigo in LaLiga. Ousmane Dembele picked up an injury during that match and he will most likely be sidelined for the remainder of the season. Probable line-ups: Liverpool: Alisson - Alexander-Arnold, Matip, Van Dijk, Robertson - Henderson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum - Shaqiri, Firmino, Mane Barcelona: Ter Stegen - Roberto, Pique, Lenglet, Alba - Vidal, Rakitic, Busquets, Coutinho - Suarez, Messi My prediction: 2-2 draw, Liverpool will most likely get to score but Barcelona will surely catch them on counter-attacks. Here are the odds for the match at Bet365: Liverpool win - 2.20 Draw - 4.00 Barcelona win - 3.10