Ernesto Valverde Reflects on Barcelona's Catastrophic Anfield Collapse & Hails Liverpool's Dominance

Ernesto Valverde has broken his silence on Barcelona's infamous Champions League collapse at the hands of Liverpool last season, praising the Premier League dominance that has followed for the Anfield giants. 

The Reds went down 3-0 at Camp Nou in the first leg of their semi-final clash last season, and looked down and out of the competition they would eventually win in Madrid. 

Starting the second leg without two key attackers in Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah, few gave them half a chance of a comeback, but what followed was one of the most memorable nights in the competition's history. 

Divock Origi opened the scoring early on before a quickfire double from substitute Gini Wijnaldum remarkably levelled things up in the second half. With Barça disorientated on the ropes, Trent Alexander-Arnold's quick thinking then found Origi free from a corner, and he swept in the unlikeliest of winners.

Champions League success broke a long run without a major trophy for ​Liverpool and gave the Reds the platform on which to build for this season; something that former Barça boss Valverde, who was sacked earlier this season, has now opened up on.

"In Liverpool, they scored a goal we wanted to avoid once we started the match," Valverde said of Origi's opener, as quoted by the ​Star. "One goal would have advanced us. They then scored two goals in a minute.

"These things happen. You always go on the side of the winner. In the away match against Liverpool, we suffered a lot but were able to win [at home] by three goals."

Valverde continued by discussing the complications of winning Europe's premier cup competition, also praising Liverpool's long unbeaten run in the Premier League which stretches back to January 2019. 

"Champions League is very complicated to win, Europa League, World Cup, Euro Cup... They are all tournaments that depend on one match or one situation," he added. 

"The league, however, is decided by what you do in the year. Liverpool is very important in the Premier League right now because they have not been beaten in a long time."

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