Liverpool take on Barcelona tonight in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final. Here are the key stats before kickoff at the Nou Camp.
Salah and Mane’s Incredible Record
Mo Salah has 25 goals this season while Sadio Mane has bagged 24.
If Mane scores again in this campaign it will the first time ever that two Liverpool players have scored 25 or more goals in successive seasons following Salah (44) and Roberto Firmino last season.
Klopp’s Record in Spain – and How He Could End the Run
Jurgen Klopp is yet to record a victory in eight European games in Spain as a manager—drawing five and losing three.
His overall record against Spanish opposition is five wins, six draws and seven defeats from 18 encounters.
Klopp is yet to face Barcelona having already managed against Sevilla, Malaga, Real Madrid and Villarreal.
He has not lost any of his 10 European knockout ties as Reds boss and has won 17 of 20 his managerial career.
Liverpool in Spain
In 18 away games in Spain, Liverpool have won seven, drawn five and lost six, scoring 18 and conceding 18.
The Reds have won four times in their last nine visits with their last victory coming with the 1-0 defeat of Real Madrid in 2009.
The win before that was the 2-1 win at Barcelona in February 2007. They are the only times they have emerged victorious in the last seven trips to Spain.
Liverpool’s last 12 games in Spain have seen them score 10 goals in total, with three of those coming in one first half in Seville. In the same period they have conceded 11.
The Reds biggest win in Spain saw them defeat Real Sociedad in the UEFA Cup in October 1975. Apart from the 3-3 at Sevilla that is the only time Liverpool have scored more than once in Spain.
Semi-Final Prowess – and Chances of the Final
Liverpool are the first English team to qualify for back-to-back Champions League semi-final since both Chelsea and Man United did so in three in a row from 2006/07 to 2008/09.
This is the Reds 19th European semi-final and their and their 11th in the major competition. They aim to reach their 14th European Final and their ninth in the European Cup/Champions League.
In their previous 10 at this stage in this competition Liverpool have been eliminated only twice—in 1965 by Inter Milan and by Chelsea in 2008.
Of the 10 times they have played any European semi-final first leg away from home they have progressed eight times—only failing in the 1997 Cup Winners’ Cup to Paris St Germain and in the 2010 Europa League to Atletico Madrid.
Mixed Fortunes for Reds Quartet
Salah looks to reach a second European final in successive seasons having lost in Europa League semi-finals with Basel in 2013 and Fiorentina in 2015.
Salah played against this evening’s opponents in a 1-1 home draw in the group stage while with Roma.
Alisson conceded four goals at the Nou Camp last season but his Roma team still overcame Barcelona in the quarter-finals.
James Milner has lost all three of his games against Barcelona—all while with Man City.
Virgil van Dijk was in the Celtic side that lost 6-1 at the Nou Camp in the 2013/14 group stages. Lionel Messi did not play that night.
The Importance of Bobby and Sadio
Firmino is the only Reds player to have featured in all 38 of Jurgen Klopp‘s European games in charge of the Reds.
Firmino now has 16 European goals for Liverpool, with Salah on 15 and Sadio Mane on 14.
Mane has scored at least once in every knockout tie from the group stages onwards since joining Liverpool—scoring nine goals in those 10 games.
He also scored in last season’s final in Kyiv.
Ridiculous Messi
Messi has scored 24 goals in 32 matches against English clubs, twice as many as he has scored against any other country’s representatives.
Messi has scored 10 goals in eight Champions League appearances this season and is the leading scorer in the competition.
He has scored 46 goals in 45 club appearances this season.
Messi has been on the losing side in only one of 31 knockout matches at the Nou Camp—against Liverpool in 2007.
Reunions
Luis Suarez played 133 games for Liverpool, scoring 82 times.
He scored four times in eight European appearances with the Reds but never played for them in the Champions League before joining Barcelona in 2014.
In the last round he became only the fifth Uruguayan player to appear 50 or more times in the Champions League. The other four are Diego Godin, Maxi Pereira, Edinson Cavani and Paolo Montero.
Philippe Coutinho appeared 201 times for the Reds during his five-year spell at Anfield, scoring 54 goals of which seven came in 24 European games for the club.
Two of his three European goals this season have come against English opponents—Tottenham and Man United.
This Season’s Scorers (Europe in Brackets)
Barcelona: Messi 46 (10), L. Suarez 24 (0), Dembele 14 (3), Coutinho 11 (3), Pique 7 (2), Rakitic 5 (1), Malcom 4 (1), Jordi Alba 3 (1), own goals 3 (1), Lenglet 2 (0), Munir 2 (0), D. Suarez 2 (0), Vidal 2 (0), Alena 1 (0), Rafinha 1 (1), Sergi Roberto 1 (0), Semedo 1 (0)
Liverpool: Salah 25 (4), Mane 24 (4), Firmino 16 (4), Milner 7 (2), Shaqiri 6 (0), Van Dijk 5 (2), Sturridge 4 (1), Origi 3 (0), Wijnaldum 3 (0), Keita 3 (1), own goals 3 (0), Alexander-Arnold 1 (0), Fabinho 1 (0), Henderson 1 (0), Lovren 1 (0), Matip 1 (0)
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