Liverpool vs FC Barcelona Tickets

Liverpool and FC Barcelona are among the most popular teams in Europe, and interest in this UEFA Champions League clash will be huge. Both teams have enjoyed extraordinary success in the competition, with their respective eras of dominance lighting up the tournament.

Liverpool first broke ground in the European Cup in the late 1970s under Bob Paisley, the revered manager taking the Anfield side to the final in 1976/77 against Borussia Monchengladbach in Rome, where goals from Terry McDermott, Tommy Smith, and Phil Neal gave the English side a 3-1 victory.

The following year they once again reached the final, where they met Belgian side Club Brugge, and this time it was Kenny Dalglish who did the damage, the Scot scoring midway through the second half to secure a narrow win at Wembley Stadium.

1981 saw Paisley earn his third winners’ medal with a victory over Real Madrid in Paris coming courtesy of an Alan Kennedy goal. In 1984, under Paisley’s successor Joe Fagan, Liverpool won their fourth European Cup by beating AS Roma on penalties in Rome.

It took another twenty years to hit those heights again, and Rafa Benitez did so in style on a famous night in Istanbul in 2005. His Liverpool team found themselves three goals down against AC Milan at half-time but somehow responded to level at 3-3 before winning on penalties against a shell shocked Italian outfit.

Jurgen Klopp made it six titles when he took Liverpool to the UEFA Champions League FInal in Madrid. An early penalty from Mohamed Salah steadied the nerves, and sub Divock Origi scored a second in the dying minutes.

FC Barcelona took quite a while to earn their first top-tier European crown. The Blaugrana lost finals to Benfica in 1961 and Steaua Bucharest in 1986 before they finally earned their place on the honour roll. It took a superb Ronald Koeman free-kick in extra time for Johan Cruyff’s side to edge out Serie A side Sampdoria.

Their subsequent four additional UEFA Champions League successes all came between 2006 and 2015.

Those wins included a comeback win over Arsenal in Paris in 2006 and two wins over Manchester United, first in Roma in 2009 and then Wembley Stadium in 2011.

In 2014 they made light work of Juventus in Berlin. Goals from Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez, and Neymar outshone the single effort from Alvaro Morata to hand Lionel Messi his fourth UEFA Champions League crown.

Liverpool vs FC Barcelona Head-to-Head

Liverpool and FC Barcelona have met on several occasions in European football, and many of those have proven to be iconic ties.

In 1975/76, the two went head to head in the UEFA Cup Semi-Final, and the first leg saw Liverpool earn a crucial 1-0 win at the Camp Nou. John Toshack scored the only goal of that game, and in the replay, Bob Paisley’s side held out for a 1-1 draw to earn their place in the final.

In 2001 Gerard Houllier’s Liverpool side drew FC Barcelona in another UFA Cup Semi-Final and once again emerged victorious. The first leg in Catalonia ended goalless, and a Gary McAllister penalty at Anfield was, therefore, enough to earn the Merseyside club a place in the final, where they duly beat Alaves in a remarkable 5-4 final.

The following year they faced each other in the UEFA Champions League group stage, and FC Barcelona easily overcame Liverpool on their own patch, winning 3-1 at Anfield. The return fixture ended 0-0.

2006/07 saw the teams meet in the Quarter-Finals, with Liverpool claiming a famous win in Barcelona thanks to goals from Craig Bellamy and John Arne Riise. Barcelona won 1-0 at Liverpool but went out on away goals.

By far, the most infamous occasion when these two teams played each other came in the 2018/19 Semi-Finals of the UEFA Champions League. Barcelona cruised to a 3-0 win at home, with Messi scoring twice and former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez also netting.

That looked to be more than enough to earn the team a route to the final, but Klopp’s side had other ideas. Origi scored in the seventh minute, but it wasn’t until the 54th minute that they got a second when Dutch midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum scored and then grabbed his second two minutes later to level the tie.

Liverpool were not finished; quick thinking from Trent Alexander-Arnold saw a swift corner put away by Origi, the Belgian forward’s second goal, and that put the Premier League through to the final, where they beat Tottenham Hotspur.

Liverpool vs FC Barcelona Connections

A large number of star performers have lined up for both Liverpool and FC Barcelona, including Brazilian playmaker Philippe Coutinho, Javier Mascherano, Luis Garcia, Jari Litmanen, Pepe Reina, Boudewijn Zenden, and Thiago Alcantara.

Another world-class star to feature for both teams in dominant fashion is Uruguayan international goal machine Luis Suarez.

Liverpool signed Suarez from Ajax in January 2011, and he quickly became a cult hero thanks to his never-say-die attitude and his eye for goal. He scored 82 goals in 133 games before leaving to join FC Barcelona.

He proved even more effective with the La Liga side, netting 198 goals in 283 games and winning a host of honours, including four domestic titles, four Copa del Rey wins, and a UEFA Champions League crown in 2015 before leaving to join Atletico Madrid in 2020.