Liverpool vs Barcelona 2019 Champions League Odds & Game Preview
ℹ️ Mo Salah has been ruled out of Liverpool’s #UCL semi-final second leg 🆚 Barcelona on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/T8uvlAW1l7
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 6, 2019
- When: Wednesday May 7, 2019, 3:00 PM ET
- Where: Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain
- TV: ESPN
- Live Stream: UEFA.com
- 2019 Champions League Odds: FC Barcelona -133 / Liverpool +333 / Draw +280
Why Bet On Barcelona?
FC Barcelona sits in first place in La Liga and they have yet to taste defeat in six Champions League matches this year (4-2-0). Lionel Messi and company come into this affair hungry after suffering a stunning 2-0 shutout loss against Celta Vigo on Saturday in their first La Liga loss this year. However, Messi and fellow superstar Luis Suarez both sat out the match while forward Ousamne Dembele suffered an injury in the humbling defeat.
“It happened in the first play of the game. He was sprinting and he noticed something wasn’t right. It was obvious something was up so we moved quickly to make the change. We didn’t want to make it worse,” Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde said after match.
The good news for Barca is that they smacked Liverpool senseless in their 3-0 shutout win in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal matchup on Wednesday as Messi deposited a pair of goals in the win and Suarez added another.
“Four goals would have been better than three but this is a very good result,” Messi told reporters. “We know that the tie isn’t over, Anfield is a very difficult place to go but we’re happy with the super game we played tonight. They clearly wanted to score because an away goal means a lot but they didn’t and we have a great advantage.”
Barcelona has scored 14 goals in six Champions League matches while allowing just five.
Why Bet On Liverpool?
Liverpool have also been playing well lately, having won 11 of their last dozen matches including a hard-fought 3-2 win over Newcastle in Saturday’s Premier League win. The bad news is that Liverpool lost superstar team leader and Premier League scoring leader Mohamed Salah to a concussion, sidelining him with the already injured Robert Firmino.
“Both of them [Salah and Firmino] are unavailable for tomorrow,” Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said at his prematch news conference at Anfield. “It’s a concussion so Mo is not allowed to play. He feels OK, but it’s not good enough from a medical point of view, that’s all.”
Liverpool now must look to record a tie at the very least after suffering a humbling 3-0 loss against Barcelona in the first leg of their semifinals showdown last week. The Reds (3-0-3) sit in first place in the Premier League but have suffered three losses to counter their three wins in six Champions League matches. Liverpool has scored nine goals and allowed seven in Champions League play this year.
Expert Analysis and Prediction for Liverpool vs Barcelona
Even with Mo Salah and Robert Firmino both available, I suspect Liverpool would be hard-pressed to take down Barca in this one, but without the pair, Liverpool has absolutely no chance of pulling off the upset. Barcelona is playing at home and Lionel Messi is playing arguably his best soccer at just the right time. Liverpool dominates this one to win and advance.
2019 Champions League Pick: Barcelona 2 Liverpool 0
