With the transfer of French star Antione Griezmann appearing imminent, Barcelona boss Josep Maria Bartomeu has denied any contact whatsoever.
This comes just days after reports of Atletico president Gil Marin claiming the club has known of some sort of transfer since March.
Other reports came out saying it was a done deal.
Coming into a game with the impossible on its to-do list, Liverpool down three goals on aggregate returned home and dominated Barcelona 4-0 to return to its second consecutive Champions League final with a 4-3 aggregate victory on Tuesday at Anfield.
Just six days ago, this Barcelona team was on the other side of the beating, thrashing Liverpool 3-0 in Barca.
Barcelona and Liverpool both started the first leg of their Champions League semifinal with plenty of attacking intent, throwing caution to the wind in search of a go-ahead goal. It didn’t take too long to arrive, with a Luis Suarez goal vs Liverpool giving the home side a lead in the 26th minute.
And the former Liverpool man had no problem celebrating his goal.
Often, players choose to refrain from celebrating a goal against a former club as a show of respect. It’s a nice gesture.
With a home match to come against Levante on Saturday followed by next Wednesday’s Champions League semifinal first leg against Liverpool, Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde elected to begin today’s away match versus Alavés with Lionel Messi on the bench.
No matter.
Before Messi entered the match in the 61st minute, goals from Carles Aleñá and Luis Suárez had already put Barça on the verge of a second straight LaLiga title. If Atlético Madrid loses to Valencia tomorrow, the crown belongs to Barcelona. Regardless, there’s no way in hell Barça loses it now.
Manchester United’s Champions League quarterfinal first leg against Barcelona did not start well.
The Blaugrana (or neon yellows, as it was), opened the scoring a dozen minutes into the match at Old Trafford on Tuesday thanks to some interplay from Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez — and some help from the Video Assistant Referee.
Jan Oblak is the best goalkeeper in the world right now. Period. End of discussion.
Oblak, the 26-year-old Slovenian and Atlético Madrid No. 1, put on a masterful display against Barcelona on Saturday at the Camp Nou.
But it was in vain.
Luis Suarez hit a perfect strike to break the deadlock and Lionel Messi took advantage of a dazed defense moments later as Barcelona scored twice late to beat 10-man Atlético Madrid in a massive LaLiga match, a potential title-decider.
Relegation-threatened Villarreal almost recorded a stunning victory over LaLiga leader Barcelona at El Madrigal, and the result would’ve certainly meant more to the Yellow Submarine’s survival than to the Blaugrana’s title charge, but Lionel Messi was inserted with 30 minutes remaining and you know what happened after that.