Wembley blockbuster sees Liverpool hammer Barcelona

Emdad Rahman

Sadio Mane was the star man as Liverpool turned on the style to cruise to a four goal victory over Barcelona in front of a capacity crowd at Wembley.

With the start of the Premiership season seven days away, Jurgen Klopp sent out a strong side to face the Catalans in this blockbuster at the home of English football. Sadio Mane finished off a sharp move and assist from Adam Lallana, beating Ter Stegen to put Liverpool ahead on 16 minutes.

The reigning Spanish champions upped the tempo and several chances went begging, with Lionel Messi striking the inside post, James Milner sliding to deny Arda Turan, a Luis Suarez effort blocked by Simon Mignolet and Dejan Lovren intervening as the dangerous Suarez lined up a shot on goal. An injury to Captain James Milner saw him replaced by Alberto Moreno.

A flying start to the second half saw Liverpool score twice in the first two minutes. Jordan Henderson, who had just come on as a sub, tore into the area to force Javier Mascherano to prod home Mane’s cross for an own goal, and then Divock Origi finished clinically after a one on one with substitute keeper Claudio Bravo.

Roberto Firmino and Mane almost added to the scoreline before Lazar Markovic sent a pinpoint ball from the right which saw Marko Grujić wrap up a comprehensive 4-0 win for the Reds in injury time.

Despite this being a pre-season friendly Klopp will be mightily satisfied by the form shown by his players. The 89,845 crowd is officially the second largest in the history of the new Wembley stadium, and the fans were treated to a lap of honour by the Liverpool players after the final whistle. Liverpool now jet off to Germany to play Mainz in their final pre season warm up game.

In his post-match press conference Jurgen Klopp told LiverpoolFC.com “I’m happy with the result and the game was good for us to learn a lot of things. So now we hope that we are injury free. Milly (Milner), it doesn’t look too good. We have no real idea what it is but it’s something with the heel and we have to do a scan and then we’ll know more.”

Lifelong Liverpool fan Bobby Saeed who was at Wembley said, “It’s been such an exciting day. I’ve supported Liverpool all my life and this result has made it a magical day out for me. I would like to send my love and thanks to my friends who have pushed me around in my wheelchair and made this all possible.”

Goals:
Mane (16), Mascherano (og) (47), Origi (48), Grujic (90+3)

Man of the match:
Sadio Mane.

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