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Liverpool (0) 1 - Barcelona (0) 0 Liverpool:
Westerveld; Babbel, Henchoz, Hyypia, Carragher; Smicer (Fowler 81'), Gerrard
(Murphy 78'), Hamann, McAllister; Heskey, Owen (Berger 63'). 4-4-2.
Goals: Barcelona were dumped unceremoniously out of the UEFA cup by a well disciplined Liverpool side. Gerard Houllier had done his homework and knew that the best way to beat Barcelona was to smother their front players and look for the goal on the breakaway against their shaky defence. The first leg in Barcelona had been a boring affair as a result, with the game ending without a goal, and although this one started more openly, the home side were never going to risk too much while they didn't have to. Serra Ferrer was missing the injured Sergi, and he went for the most experienced option, leaving out Gabri and moving the flexible Cocu to left back, with Petit coming in to midfield for a rare start. Otherwise the team lined up as normal, with Luis Enrique back on the right of midfield. Although the ball swung from end to end in the first half, scoring chances were already hard to come by. Barcelona only troubled the Liverpool goal twice, a speculative shot from Rivaldo from 30 metres early on which Westerveld tipped over the bar and a half hit effort by Luis Enrique which almost crept in around the half hour mark. The home side did even less though, only a weak header from Smicer which Reina caught easily and a couple of efforts well wide. Swiss referee Urs Meier waved away a couple of penalty claims for possible fouls on Owen and Gerrard, and then with two minutes to go to half time Kluivert handled in his own area as he rose to try and head the ball away. It was the slightest of touches but there was no doubt, and McAllister blasted the ball into the roof of Reina's net from the resulting penalty. Kluivert tried to make up for his mistake early in the second half, but it wasn't his night. A minute after the restart he tried to score from an impossible angle with two of his colleagues free in front of goal, and then when Westerveld completely missed a clearance, he hesitated too long to reach the ball before it ran out for a goalkick. Serra Ferrer brought on Simao for Reiziger, but by now Liverpool were happy to play nine men in defence, Berger coming on for Owen to close down the Portuguese international on the wing. Although almost all of the remaining minutes were played in Liverpool's half, the visitors didn't get one decent shot at goal, with Hyppia and Henchoz outstanding in the back four. Gerrard almost added to the lead on a rare counterattack, and Barça were reduced in the end to bombarding balls in to the penalty area, addition of Dani for Overmars with a quarter of an hour to go just adding to the congestion around the penalty area. All they needed was one goal, but they were unable in 180 minutes of football to make any inroads, and went home in the end empty handed. With two months left to the end of the season, all that remains for Barcelona now is to secure one of the four Champions League spots, and to try and at least win one trophy, the Spanish cup, which has little prestige in Spain. Club president Joan Gaspart confirmed that Serra Ferrer will stay to the end of the season (you can't replace a caretaker manager with a caretaker caretaker manager I suppose), but a new man will almost definitely be in charge next season. Liverpool go on to their third final of the season, where they will meet another Spanish side Alavés. Houllier is already signing on for night school. |
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