Barcelona vs Liverpool
Two titans take to the field on Wednesday May 1st at 3pm EST. Barcelona is coming off a 4-0 aggregate win over Manchester United in the quarterfinals, while Liverpool dispatched Porto 6-1 in the previous round. Both teams have their sights set on a sixth Champions League title. The last time Barcelona won was in 2015, while Liverpool’s last title was in 2005. Last year Liverpool was defeated in the Final by Real Madrid.
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On paper, Barcelona has the more complete squad, and they are coming off a La Liga championship in which they went 25-8-2 and outscored opponents by a 54-goal margin. It was the third time in the last four seasons that Barcelona has won their domestic cup. They defeated Manchester United very handily in the quarterfinals, but Liverpool is a much fiercer opponent.
Liverpool is currently in second place in the Premier league and historically have good results against Barcelona; they have never lost at Camp Nou, and have never been knocked out of a tournament by Barcelona. They employ an aggressive, attacking style that Barcelona historically has had trouble handling. In 2013, Bayern Munich had a very similar squad to that of today’s Liverpool, and they thrashed Barcelona by a 7-0 aggregate score.
Nevertheless, the ball is at Barcelona’s feet – they are a dominant team who have mastered an exceptionally tough domestic league and have won four Champions League titles since Liverpool won their most recent title. If they maintain focus and play to the best of their abilities and enforce their game onto Liverpool, they will be the favorites. If Barcelona lets their feet off the gas, then trouble may start to brew.
Tottenham vs Ajax
The other semifinal in this year’s tournament features two underdogs. Ajax upset Juventus and Tottenham edged Manchester City on away goals to advance to the semifinal. Tottenham has never made the final round of the Champions League, while Ajax is vying for their first final appearance since 1995.
The two teams make for a very interesting matchup; Ajax has been knocking off some of the best clubs in European football to get to this stage. They defeated Bayern Munich twice in the group phase and have bested both defending champion Real Madrid and Juventus in the knockout rounds.
Ajax a team with a healthy mix of talent and experience and instead of playing the typical underdog game of counter-attack, they play much more like some of their more well-established opponents, controlling the ball and making opponents come at them.
Thus, Tottenham will have their hands full, especially since they are missing two key players in Harry Kane (injury) and Son Heung-min (suspension). Without those two on the field, Tottenham will have to drum up scoring from somewhere else. Christian Eriksen and Erik Lamela are the key candidates to pick up the scoring, but they will have to do so while limiting what Ajax phenom Frenkie de Jong does on the field.