It’s very painful’: Valverde rocked by Barca collapse

TIL Desk Sports/ Ernesto Valverde admitted Barcelona had only themselves to blame for their “terrible” Champions League semi-final collapse at Liverpool on Tuesday. Barca were blown away on an incredible night at Anfield as Liverpool won 4-0 to overturn a three-goal first-leg defeat.

Liverpool are only the third team in the history of the European Cup to recover from such a large semi-final deficit. Barca boss Valverde conceded his players failed to match Liverpool’s intensity and lost their cool after the Reds scored twice in quick succession in the second half to level the tie on aggregate.

“Things got on top of us after those two quick goals. We didn’t manage to get on the scoresheet and they rolled us over really,” he said. “It’s a terrible result for our fans and for ourselves. It’s really, really unfortunate, but credit to Liverpool. “They started really well, and they pinned us back. Early goal, we reacted well after that.

“We managed to control things a little bit in the second part of the first half. We had half-chances to score. “We tried to sit a little bit deeper, but the tie ended for us with the fourth goal. We couldn’t respond.”