What’s the story?
Former Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has given his thoughts on Barcelona’s performance in the sensational defeat at the hands of Liverpool by comparing them to an under-14 team.
In case you didn’t know
Barcelona walked into the second leg of their Champions League semi-final fixture against Liverpool with a three-goal cushion courtesy of Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi’s efforts at the Camp Nou last week.
However, the Spanish champions were completely undone by a resilient Liverpool side which was missing two key members of their attacking trio- Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah.
Divock Origi and Georginio Wijnaldum emerged as the heroes for Jurgen Klopp’s side scoring two goals apiece as Liverpool replicated their Champions League winning comeback at Istanbul in 2005.
The heart of the matter
Mourinho, who has witnessed the technical abilities of Barcelona during his stint at Real Madrid, has questioned the current team’s mentality and compared them to an under-14 team.
Speaking on beIN SPORTS, the Portuguese said, “If you see that goal in an under-14 or an under-15 match you would say, ‘the kids are sleeping, the kids have no mentality to play football, the kids have to learn the basics of the game.”
“But we are speaking about the best players in the world and to concede that goal really shows you a state of mind.”
“At half-time I said if Liverpool score a second goal the atmosphere will be really difficult to cope with and the atmosphere was really difficult to cope with.”
“But Barcelona have some of the best players in the world. It’s their natural habitat to play at that level, it’s their natural habitat to play Barcelona [versus] Real Madrid, Champions League final, Champions League semi-final every season.”
“To concede that goal really shows you a state of mind”
Mourinho questions Barcelona's mentality following Liverpool's decisive set-piece. #UCL pic.twitter.com/nXz1PT0uC6
— beIN SPORTS USA (@beINSPORTSUSA) May 7, 2019
What’s next?
Liverpool will face either Tottenham Hotspur or Ajax in the Champions League final while Barcelona will turn their attention to the Copa del Rey final where they are scheduled to face Valencia later this month.
[Sportskeeda]
