The Reds face Roma in the first leg of the Champions League Semi-Final tomorrow night at Anfield in what is arguably the most important game of the season so far.
It has been 10 years since Liverpool last reached this stage of the competition but have earned their place with some brilliant performances including a 5-1 dismantling of Premier League champions Manchester City over two legs. However, the same could be said for our visitors on Tuesday with Roma coming back from 3-1 down to surprisingly knock Barcelona out of the competition to advance to this stage of the competition.
There will also be a lot of spotlight on our fans come Tuesday evening after the Quarter-Final first leg against Manchester City was spoilt by a minority of supporters who thought it would be a good idea to throw bottles at the City coach as it drove past.
It has become a tradition amongst supporters to welcome the coach as it arrives before big games with thousands of supporters gathering outside Anfield with flares, flags and singing their favourite songs to get the team hyped up. However, a few individuals ruined it last time with the limelight being taken away from the marvellous support with the media highlighting the fact that a window was smashed on the City coach.
There is likely to be an increase of police presence on the streets surrounding Anfield to prevent what happened last time but fans are encouraged to show their support the right way and I’m sure Allez Allez Allez will be sang the loudest it has ever been multiple times.
Another spotlight will be shown to Mo Salah tomorrow night with him facing his former side just 2 days after being named PFA Player of the Year. Salah has scored in his last nine appearances at Anfield both in the league and the cup scoring a total of 14 in that period. During his two years at Roma he made 83 appearances scoring 34 times so has stepped up since his time in Italy and will be a threat to his former teammates having scored 8 goals in the Champions League this season averaging a goal every 92 minutes.
We have seen the advantage of having the home leg first in the last round of this competition having taken a 3-0 lead to the Etihad. The last time Liverpool lost a European match at home was against Real Madrid in October 2014 and are currently unbeaten at Anfield. If the support is anything like the last game then the stadium will be electric tomorrow night and I’m looking forward to experiencing another European night at Anfield.
The Reds have scored 33 goals in 10 games during this competition making them the top scorers, James Milner also holds top spot for the number of assists in the competition with a total of eight with Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah being joint second for goals scored with 8, seven behind Cristiano Ronaldo who has 15.
Although Liverpool have performed well in this year’s competition and are favourites for this game, you can’t write off Roma just yet. The Reds area of weakness is still defence despite the presence of Virgil van Dijk making a difference, but with Roma having Edin Dzeko upfront and a handful of other great players behind him who will look to exploit our weaknesses meaning we will have to be on our toes at all times to prevent them from scoring that crucial away goal.
Article by Lauren Black – @LaurenBlack9
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