Shakira screams, Lionel Messi tears and dressing room story of Barcelona's Liverpool nightmare

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You have to be alert and learn from your mistakes, don't you?"Lionel Messi appears on camera to expand: "It was very hard because we relaxed, we were overconfident and we thought we were already in the final and that match shows you what the Champions League is."Coach Valverde is asked by Catalan radio if it is impossible for what happened in Rome to happen again against Liverpool at Anfield"In the same way as we have won, we have to concede that our rival can beat us," he admits."But seeing this press room full and seeing what the stadium is going to be like tomorrow, I think there'll be little relaxation."MATCH DAYNow it's down to the real business and we see Anfield just over three hours ahead of kick off on match night.Catalan radio provides the background with the stirring intro, "The day has come. Quiet that is apart from the sound of the Liverpool 'hymn', which is clearly audible.As YNWA reaches it's climax, it does grab the attention of Shakira and her brood who are now watching intently, while inside the dressing room we hear the final words of encouragement before the Barcelona players take to the field."We are prepared to suffer, we will suffer, it's going to be tough." But they have no idea just how tough.Messi leads the final blast: "Come on people!

We all know what happened but it's fascinating to see it through Barcelona eyes.Andy Robertson's early run in with Messi has the match commentator remarking on the 'problem' Liverpool's Scottish full-back had with Suarez in the first leg and he suggests Messi needs to 'calm down'.."My word, so much excitement today in Anfield. There's a lot of time left and no need to panic."As Barcelona begin to threaten and create chances of their own, Coutinho is denied by Alisson Becker and Messi shoots narrowly wide leading to grimaces from Shakira.Her son asks: "If it finishes 3-1, do we still go to the final?" "Yes," she says, "close again," but the anxiety her husband and his team are facing is etched all over her face.At half-time in the Barca dressing room, the tension is writ large.Speaking after the event, Pique says: "When they score the first goal very quickly then I suppose the ghosts of Rome appear."Goalkeeper Marc Ter Stegen adds: "We hoped Liverpool's energy would drop somehow and we'd be able to find our own way but it wasn't easy.We hear coach Valverde's half-time instructions to his players: "We have a problem because they are pressing us and also they are all in the centre."We need to push up.

Everything will be decided here, near their area."As they prepare to leave the dressing room, the Barcelona players encourage each other: "We can do it.. we have to be strong.. we have to score a goal.. we have to score a goal", with Suarez exhorting his colleagues: "We cannot let them score again."The Uruguayan knows what Anfield is capable of with its tail up and he is not wrong.Because seven minutes after the interval, Gini Wijnaldum sweeps home Liverpool's second on the night from Trent Alexander-Arnold's deflected cross to reduce the deficit to one goal and the Catalans' worst fears are rapidly becoming reality.Even as the attack builds, the match commentator says "Anfield is coming alive, Barca is suffering" and once the goal goes in, the alarm bells have become clanging chimes of doom for Barca and their supporters."Son of a mother" curses Shakira, while the commentators says perhaps more in hope than expectation: "Now we'll see Barca's character".Liverpool go straight back on the attack and one of Shakira's sons tries to comfort her, saying: "If it stays like this, it doesn't matter. With the game against Rome, I thought about it many times and I prepared it knowing the experience of the previous year."I have the feeling that if I started again I think that I was wrong about something, I would be wrong again.Sergi Roberto, hero of Barca's own miracle comeback from a four-goal first leg deficit against Paris St Germain two years earlier, says they are hurting but no-one more than their captain and talisman, Messi."Leo was really screwed up after the Liverpool game," he says."As captain, making that speech at the start of the season saying that we would bring the Champions League home to the fans, I think more than anyone, he was really hurting and very sad."Barcelona had clinched the La Liga title the weekend before the first leg of the semi final against Liverpool and, while their Champions League exit clearly cast a shadow over their campaign, they still have a shot at some form of redemption with the final of the Copa del Rey against Valencia still ahead.We see 'captains' Messi and Pique meeting the press ahead of the clash in Seville and they make it very clear how desperate they are to put the Liverpool defeat behind them and end the campaign on a high."We are the only ones responsible for that match," says Messi, "because we knew that the same thing as last year couldn't happen, but it did."I think the match we played was pitiful, the image we gave."More than the fact there were failures, mistakes, errors, the worst thing is - and we can't forgive ourselves for this - is that we didn't compete."This is why we ask for forgiveness, not for having lost the match but for not competing for the pass to the final."But the scars of Anfield are deep and Barcelona lose the final to Valencia 2-1, the final act of an '18-day storm' which left the Catalans desolate and Liverpool on the brink of the European glory.*A version of this article was originally published in 2020.