Didi Hamann: I expect Barcelona and Liverpool go down to the wire

TV: BT Sport 2, 8pm Wednesday

I see it being really tight, maybe 1-0 to Barcelona, or perhaps Liverpool can grind out a low-scoring draw.

Put it this way, I don’t expect the tie to be over by the time both sets of players walk off the pitch at Camp Nou.

Barcelona will dominate possession, we can be sure of that, but they don’t boss games these days quite the way they used to. At home to Lyon, the possession stats were 51-49 in their favour so Liverpool will definitely have more of the ball than they might have envisaged a few seasons back.

And Barcelona will inevitably be wary of the threat posed by Liverpool’s front three, who are all match-winners and in the richest form.

In fact, I would suggest that Liverpool’s attacking unit is probably a better collective than Barca’s at the moment with Reds’ old boy Luis Suarez not at his very best.

And Suarez and Lionel Messi need to find a way past one of the best central defenders in the world in Virgil van Dijk, who will receive excellent protection from Fabinho, who’s looking more and more like a top holding midfielder.

Don’t get duped into thinking there will be goals galore in this – over 2.5 is far too short. This tie should still be very much in the balance when they return to Anfield.

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