I Dig Sports
Within a distance of less than 40 miles, overall 462 men and 260 women, according to my abacus that is 722 players, are competing in international competition.
Add coaches, umpires and officials surely we reach the 1,000 mark; has the state of international competition ever been healthier?
In Lasko, there are 39 men out a possible 44 players entered, who gained medals last year at the Para World Championships, also held in Lasko; looking back to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, where only one bronze medal as opposed to two at the World Championships was awarded, in the corresponding events the numbers read 29 from a possible 33 in total.
It is very much the same for the women. In total, 32 medallists from a possible 40 at the 2018 World Para Championships appear on the entry list; from Rio de Janeiro, it is 22 from a potential 30 in number.
Moreover, in the women’s singles events, there is a Class 1 and separately a Class 2 competition; at both the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and the 2018 Para World Championships those classes were combined. Thus in each on the men’s singles and women’s singles events, there is the full complement of 11 classes.
Also, you can add to the scenario the fact that each class boasts players who won medals at the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games and at the 2018 Para World Championships.
Gold medallists in both gatherings are on duty. In the men’s singles the names of Frenchman Fabien Lamirault (class 2), China’s Feng Panfeng (class 3) and Denmark’s Peter Rosemeier (class 6) alongside Belgium’s Florian Van Acker (class 11) appear on the entry list. Likewise for the women, China’s Xu Juan (class 3) and Mao Jingdian (class 8), in addition to Serbia’s Borislava Peric-Rankovic (class 4) all compete.
Meanwhile in the men’s singles events, in the wheelchair classes (class 1 to class 5), every Rio Paralympic Games medallist in listed; it is the same in class 7, class 8 and class 11. Likewise, all the 2018 World Championships medallists are present in classes 1 to 4, as well as in class 8, class 9 and class 10.
Similarly for the women, all the Rio medallists are on duty in class 3, class 4, class 8 and class 9; from the World Championships in class 3, class 4, class 6, class 8 and class 9.
Two tournaments at the same time, quite incredible numbers; surely unrivalled, more than one record of some sort broken. Intense competition, tense time ahead, at the end of the day it will be the survival of the fittest; that’s the organisers not the players!
Thermana Lasko Slovenia Para Open 2019: Latest results and main draws
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Haskell 'blubbed' in front of team-mates when announcing retirement
Published in
Rugby
Tuesday, 07 May 2019 15:10
England flanker James Haskell says he "blubbed" in front of his Northampton team-mates when he told them he would be retiring at the end of the season.
The back row, 34, was capped 77 times by his country, winning three Six Nations titles, including a Grand Slam.
"I said goodbye to the lads the other day and I broke down, I blubbed in front of them. I couldn't get my words out. I didn't expect that," he said.
"I just couldn't speak and I cried. There are a lot of emotions with it."
Former Wasps player Haskell has struggled with ankle and toe problems this season, making only four appearances.
He already has business ventures in health and fitness programmes and DJ-ing, which he did alongside his playing career, but admits it will be difficult to adjust to life after rugby.
"Finding my feet again is going to be really hard. I'm lucky, my wife is amazing, she spotted it coming and I do have good days and bad days," Haskell added.
"I speak to a lot of players who have retired and they find it hard. A lot of players find it hard. A lot of sportsmen get depression, all sorts of mental health issues.
"A lot of people come up to me and say, 'you'll be alright, you've done this, it's impressive', but it's as terrifying as if I had never done anything."
'Jones got the best out of me'
Haskell toured with the British and Irish Lions to New Zealand in 2017 after being part of the England team who won the Grand Slam in 2016 and whitewashed Australia on tour that summer.
He said he believed his international career was over after the 2015 World Cup, but came back into the fold when Eddie Jones was appointed head coach.
"My best games for England were under Eddie Jones," he said.
"Eddie out of everyone treated me in a way that got the best out of me.
"He understood that I was a guy who needed an arm around me, needed my tyres pumped up, someone to believe in me and actively want to help me."
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CONCORD, N.C. – The ARCA Menards Series invaded Charlotte Motor Speedway Tuesday afternoon for an open test session in advance of the General Tire 150 on May 23.
Harrison Burton, driving the No. 20 Toyota for Venturini Motorsports, set the fastest time of the test session. His 29.631-second lap at 182.242 mph, which came late in the day, led a Venturini Motorsports sweep of the top three spots ahead of Christian Eckes and Michael Self.
“We just did a qualifying run right there. I think all the Venturini cars did,” Burton said of his fast lap. “It was kind of fun to go out and let it loose and go for a good lap, which is something that drivers always like to do.
“We’re just working on the balance on the No. 20, trying to get it to where we can rotate the corner and still have good rear grip. I feel like our qualifying trim was really good, just need a little bit more in race trim and we’ll be pretty hard to beat.”
Burton, who is competing full-time in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series this year for Kyle Busch Motorsports, is slated to compete in the General Tire 150 one day after his high school graduation.
“I’m going to have a busy week,” Burton said with a laugh.
Riley Herbst, who tested two different Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas Tuesday, was fourth fastest and reigning ARCA champion Sheldon Creed was fifth in a GMS Racing Chevrolet.
Travis Braden, the current ARCA Menards Series championship leader, managed only the 15th fastest lap. He explained that he and the RFMS Racing team battled a tight condition throughout the test.
“It’s kind of an all-new package for us. We just had to figure out where the starting point was and go from there,” Braden said. “We kind of unloaded really tight and never found anything to make it not tight. I guess that is still somewhat of a positive for us because every deal we had last year we were fighting really loose. We wanted to get that out of it and we did, now we just have to kind of figure out how to meet in the middle.”
Other notables at the test were reigning NHRA Pro Stock champion Tanner Gray, rookie Cole Glasson, Richard Petty’s grandson Thad Moffitt, multi-time ARCA Midwest Tour champion Ty Majeski and 2018 Daytona ARCA runner-up Willie Mullins.
Mullins, who hasn’t competed since an early crash in the ARCA opener at Daytona Int’l Speedway in February, is planning to make his first start at a 1.5-mile speedway at Charlotte later this month.
“It was a very good day. We made progress all day, mainly as a driver,” Mullins said. “We worked all day to go faster. Every run with older and older tires we went faster and faster. That just shows you how much is left in the car. We’ve got a good car to come back and run a solid 10th or 15th at least, if not better.”
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The Boston Bruins open the Eastern Conference finals against the Carolina Hurricanes on Thursday night at home. But defenseman Charlie McAvoy won't be participating in Game 1, having been suspended for one playoff game by the NHL's Department of Player Safety on Tuesday for an illegal check to the head of Columbus Blue Jackets forward Josh Anderson.
It's the first time McAvoy, 21, has been fined or suspended in his two-year NHL career.
In the second period of Game 6 on Monday night, Anderson and Zdeno Chara of the Bruins raced after a loose puck. Anderson gained control and attempted to move deeper into the attacking zone. McAvoy skated over and checked Anderson, making contact with his body but mostly with his head. Anderson fell to the ice and went to the trainers room with 23 seconds remaining in the period.
He later returned to the game and even had a conversation with McAvoy in the handshake line after the Bruins eliminated the Blue Jackets with a 3-0 win.
Despite the impact of the hit, McAvoy was given only a two-minute minor penalty for an illegal check to the head by the on-ice officials. Since there is no provision for a major penalty on that call, the refs had to decide whether to give him two minutes or a match penalty, which carries an ejection. But that latter call is made only in cases where the officials feel there was a deliberate intent to injure another player.
McAvoy said there wasn't any intent on his part.
"I put my shoulder into him," he said. "It was a hockey play. I tried to deliver a check. I was penalized two minutes for it."
The Department of Player Safety said it accepted McAvoy's argument that there was no malicious intent on the hit but that his approach in making the hit showed poor decision-making -- that a hit delivered through the core of Anderson's body was possible but McAvoy instead went too high and made contact with the Blue Jackets forward's head.
"It's important to note that while Anderson's body and front shoulder do absorb some contact on this check, the main point of contact was the head," the department said in a video explaining the one-game suspension.
McAvoy played 54 games for the Bruins in the regular season, scoring seven goals, making 21 assists and skating 22:10 per game. Through 13 playoff games, he has a goal and five assists and is averaging 24:46 of ice time.
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John Daly has been approved to use a cart next week in the PGA Championship because of arthritis in his right knee that he says keeps him from walking more than six holes on the golf course.
He will be the first player to ride a cart in a major championship since Casey Martin in the U.S. Open at Olympic Club in 1998 and 2012.
''I hope I don't get a lot of grief from the fans,'' Daly said in a telephone interview. ''My knee is screwed. I had the meniscus cut out. I have osteoarthritis so bad ... I can walk up a hill, I just can't walk down one.''
The PGA of America said Daly applied to use a cart through its American with Disabilities Act policy and provided ''the requisite information to allow for a review of his request by the PGA's medical team.''
''The request was reviewed and approved,'' the PGA said in a statement.
The PGA Championship starts May 16 at Bethpage Black, a notoriously tough public course – inside and outside the ropes – on Long Island. Daly has a lifetime exemption from winning the PGA Championship in 1991 at Crooked Stick as the ninth alternate. That's when the golf world was introduced to his ''grip it and rip it'' game.
Now he'll be gripping the steering wheel of a cart.
A PGA spokesman said the 53-year-old Daly would be assigned a cart with no roof.
Martin, a former teammate of Tiger Woods at Stanford, suffers from Klippel-Trenaunay-Weber Syndrome, which restricts circulation in the lower portion of his right leg and made it virtually impossible for him to walk 18 holes a day over four rounds.
He had a single-rider cart when he qualified for the 1998 U.S. Open and tied for 23rd, and he successfully sued the PGA Tour in a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court. Martin, now the men's golf coach at Oregon, qualified for the U.S. Open again in 2012 when it was at Olympic Club and missed the cut.
Daly, a two-time major champion, regularly plays the PGA Tour Champions, which allows for carts. He last played a tournament without a cart last September at the Omega European Masters in Switzerland on the European Tour.
He tried to get a cart for the U.S. Senior Open last year in Colorado, and the USGA turned him down. The USGA said the information Daly submitted with his request did not support a waiver to ride, and that Daly chose not to provide additional information to support his request.
The question now is whether he even makes it to the PGA Championship.
Daly tied for 27th last week at the Insperity Invitational in Houston, and withdrew from the Regions Tradition, the first senior major of the year, because of illness. He said he was suffering dizzy spells during the drive toward Alabama.
''Massive dizzy spells, and I'm diabetic now,'' Daly said. ''I was driving the bus from Houston, trying to make it to Birmingham, and pulled off the road six times.''
He says he made it to Philadelphia, Mississippi, and was playing the slot machines.
''The whole thing (stinks),'' Daly said. ''Florida sends me a handicap sticker when I'm there. It's embarrassing. But I can't walk more than six holes before the whole knee swells up, and then I can't go anymore.''
Daly said he planned to see a doctor in the next few days about the dizzy spells, which he said used to affect his mother.
Daly was nicknamed ''Wild Thing'' when he first appeared on the PGA Tour as a rookie in 1991 for the way he played and lived. He won the The Open at St. Andrews in 1995, and the last of his five PGA Tour victories was in 2004 at Torrey Pines in the Buick Invitational.
He won the Insperity Invitational on the PGA Tour Champions two years ago.
Ferguson is a golf writer for The Associated Press.
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Notes: Bae still searching for old form after military stint
Published in
Golf
Tuesday, 07 May 2019 13:08
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - He was away from golf for two years, and his world ranking plummeted lower than it had been at any point in his career.
For Sangmoon Bae, the re-entry has not gone as well as he would have liked.
Bae started well enough at the Wells Fargo Championship, until his five birdies were wasted by five bogeys, and he ended up missing the cut for the ninth time in 13 starts on the PGA Tour this year. He knows the game that took him to 13 wins worldwide, including two on the PGA Tour and a spot in the Presidents Cup, is still in there.
''I think my game is a lot better than before. My swing is better,'' Bae said. ''I've kind of lost my feel how to play golf. Not how to swing - I forgot how to play golf.''
Bae was in the final match at home in South Korea in 2015 at the Presidents Cup, and he flubbed a chip on the 18th hole that was the International team's last chance to win the trophy. That was his final competition before he faced two-year mandatory military service.
He was the second-best player from South Korea in the world ranking (No. 88) going into the Presidents Cup. When he returned, he was No. 1,869 in the world.
Bae, who lost an appeal to extend his work permit to play golf, was in the Army with kids some 10 years younger than him.
''I wasn't able to play there because I was a rifleman,'' he said. ''I had a five- or six-day holiday every month, but Korea is really cold in the winter. Five days is not enough to play and I was happy in that time to hang out with my family. I didn't have to think about the military.''
He had never shot a rifle before he joined the Army.
''I learned. I was good at it,'' he said with a laugh. ''We didn't shoot every day, it was more training. We had a lot of running, working out and military theory, so we studied. We wake at 6 a.m. every day, the same schedule.''
The food?
''Not as good as it is here,'' he said with another laugh from the Quail Hollow Club locker room.
The world ranking wasn't a concern, it was keeping his job. Bae said he had 27 events to try to earn back his card. He played 17 times and made five cuts but did well enough to get into the Web.com Tour Finals. After a tie for sixth in the second event at Canterbury, he won the Boise Open to secure his card.
''I made an 8-foot putt on the last hole, and that meant a lot,'' he said. ''That was a championship putt. That gave me a strong mind. It was like: 'Oh, the game is back. I'm ready to play on the PGA Tour next year.' I went to Napa - I had won that tournament - and had so much confidence. But I didn't play well that week.''
Bae said his mistake was not going to the Web.com Tour Championship after his win at Boise for a chance to win the postseason money title, which would have made him fully exempt for the year. Now, his priority depends on his performance, and his performance has been lacking.
One problem is seeing too many coaches. Bae says he saw five or six coaches last year, some for only one session on the range.
''Too many swing thoughts,'' he said. ''I have better swing thoughts now - not millions, just a couple of them.''
He moved from Dallas to Las Vegas, where he said it was easier to practice at the TPC Summerlin. He also has found more entertainment in Las Vegas, and he has a group of friends for practice. That includes Women's PGA champion Danielle Kang, her brother and Inbee Park and her husband.
He is in the field at the AT&T Byron Nelson this week, hopeful he can get it turned around. Bae has made only four cuts in 14 starts this year and is No. 212 in the FedExCup standings. He needs to be in the top 200 to at least return to the Web.com Tour Finals.
''I'm trying not to think of negative things. I'm trying to think of good golf,'' he said. ''I hope to play well on tournament days, not practice rounds. I need to focus on how I play, not how I swing. Golf is a mental game. I need to work on my swing but do half and half. That balance is a little off right now.''
MCILROY PERSPECTIVE
Rory McIlroy won his first major at Congressional in the 2011 U.S. Open when he built a three-shot lead after one round and went on to win by eight shots.
That would seem to give him better perspective than most when it comes to what Tiger Woods did at Pebble Beach in the 2000 U.S. Open, winning by nearly twice that many shots. Woods was the only player under par and won by 15.
''I wouldn't have given it a thought,'' McIlroy said.
McIlroy says the only comparison - he led by eight after 54 holes, Woods led by 10 - is that it allowed him to savor the last hour. McIlroy also won the PGA Championship by eight shots in 2012 at Kiawah Island.
''I remember at Kiawah the last few holes thinking, 'Geez, I'm about to become a multiple major champion,''' he said.
He also nearly lost a big lead. McIlroy recalls being six shots clear on the back nine in Dubai as he went after his first professional victory. He had to make a nervy 5-footer on the last hole to win by one shot. He says that served him well.
''If you're in that position, you know anything can happen,'' he said. ''And if you're five or six behind with six to play, anything can happen and you have to stay positive.''
DIVOTS
Stewart Cink has withdrawn from the PGA Championship because of back issues that have been bothering him for the last three months. He says he is taking time away and hopes to return this summer. ... Golf Channel has added another college tournament to its TV schedule, signing a partnership with Maridoe Golf Club in Texas to create the Maridoe Collegiate Invitational that will be held in September 2020. That gives Golf Channel five college tournaments. ... Three of the four past champions at Bethpage Black will be at the PGA Championship. The exception is Nick Watney, who won The Barclays in 2012. He fell short of qualifying, in part because of timing. With the move to May, the PGA Championship money list used for qualifying began with the 2018 Players Championship. Watney was runner-up at Quail Hollow the week before.
STAT OF THE WEEK
Max Homa (No. 417) became the fifth player in the last nine years to win the Wells Fargo Championship when ranked outside the top 100 in the world.
FINAL WORD
''He's smart, he knows how to play, he knows how to win. That's not going to leave you.'' - Jack Nicklaus on Tiger Woods.
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Jurgen Klopp called his Liverpool team "f---ing giants" after they pulled of an unbelievable second-leg Champions League semifinal comeback to beat Barcelona 4-3 on aggregate.
Liverpool came into the match trailing 3-0 on aggregate following the first leg at Camp Nou, but their dramatic 4-0 second-leg win over the La Liga champions on Tuesday night sees them into a second UCL final in as many years.
Following the match, Klopp told BT Sport: "These boys are f---ing giants. Fine me for swearing if you want. These boys are giants.
- Barcelona ratings: Jordi Alba 3/10 as Liverpool complete rally
- Ogden: Liverpool comeback Anfield's most magical night
- Liverpool ratings: Fabinho, Origi top list of Reds 'giants'
"Creating this kind of emotional atmosphere together is so special. It's all about the players. James Milner was crying at the end. It's so special - the mix of potential and unbelievable heart -- I've never seen it before."
Braces from Divock Origi and Georginio Wijnaldum and a clean sheet from Alisson were the centerpieces of the magical night at Anfield.
The team was also without injured regulars Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, and after the match Klopp said: "Putting in a performance like this on the pitch, it was so important -- it shows what's possible in football. It's so nice, it's really nice.
"We needed to be serious and cheeky -- all the predictable things, Barcelona defend well - -we needed to be unpredictable. Ben Woodburn looked at me at the end and said 'what happened?'"
Despite the overwhelming odds they faced to mount a comeback, Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson said the players knew they could turn around the tie.
"Unbelievable. I don't think many people gave us a chance. Before the game we knew that it would be difficult but it was still possible of course," Henderson told BT Sport.
"It's amazing. We knew that at Anfield we could do something special. It's a special night. They're a fantastic team but we knew if we showed heart we had a chance to get something."
Liverpool flew at Barca from the start and there were some spicy exchanges with the Merseyside club's former striker Luis Suarez. One clash with the Uruguayan left full-back Andrew Robertson injured, but the defender shrugged it off.
"Who's going to the final? We are. That's all that matters. Gini went on [for me] and scored two. I don't care right now," Robertson told BT Sport.
"I've said so many times this season but what a team. We believe. People wrote us off. But we believed if we got off to a good start we could do it."
On the injury, Robertson said: "It doesn't feel the best at the minute but I'll get a scan tomorrow.
"They're confident that it's just a nerve or whatever and it can be maybe a couple of days, but we'll wait and see.
Dutchman Wijnaldum, who replaced Robertson at halftime, revealed that he was annoyed at being left out of the starting lineup by Klopp.
"I was really angry that the manager put me on the bench. I just tried to help my team, [and] I'm happy I could do that with two goals," he said smiling.
Origi added: "It was more about the team [than my goals]. We did so well. We knew it would be a special night. We wanted to fight for the injured guys. We fought so hard."
Liverpool, who also have a chance at winning the Premier League on the last day of the season, will face either Tottenham or Ajax in the June 1 final in Madrid.
Information from Reuters was used in this report.
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LIVERPOOL, England -- Luis Suarez accused Barcelona of defending like kids and apologised to supporters after the Spanish champions collapsed to a humiliating 4-0 defeat against Liverpool as they were eliminated from the Champions League on Tuesday.
Divock Origi and Georginio Wijnaldum both scored twice as Liverpool recovered from a three-goal defeat at Camp Nou last week to reach the Champions League final for a second season running thanks to a 4-3 aggregate win.
Substitute Wijnaldum scored twice in two minutes at the start of the second half before Origi added the winner in front of the Kop at Anfield when Barca switched off at a corner.
"It is inconceivable that we, Barcelona, concede two goals in just over a minute," Suarez told reporters. "We defended like kids for the fourth goal."
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Liverpool player ratings: Origi, Fabhino top list of heroes
Players, pundits react on social media to epic match
It's the second time in two seasons that the Catalans have given up a three-goal advantage in the Champions League. Last season they lost 3-0 to Roma after winning the first leg 4-1.
Suarez, who on his return to Liverpool was jeered and told to 'f--- off' by supporters that used to idolise him, said the players must be prepared for the criticism which will come their way in the coming weeks.
"We have to be really self-critical about what happened," he added. "It's the second time this has happened. We can't commit the same mistakes two years running. There are a lot of things to evaluate and to think about.
"We have to apologise for our attitude and we must be conscious that the criticism is going to rain down on us now. We're really upset, we're hurting a lot. We're humans and we feel the pain."
Coach Ernesto Valverde, who was made to carry the buck for last season's loss to Roma, also apologised to Barca's supporters.
"We're really sorry to the fans," he said in his postgame news conference. "We play to make them proud of us. Everyone expects us to win all the time but we have lost -- and in a very painful way.
"This is the first game we have lost in the Champions League this season but we are out because of it. The players are the ones that play on the pitch and they are hurting more than anyone.
"The most painful thing is to repeat [what happened in Rome]. It happened last season and it has happened again. But when you lose 4-0 you can't have any excuses. They were better than us and we have to accept it."
Despite winning back-to-back league titles since taking charge in 2017 -- and with the possibility of a second domestic double still on the cards -- Valverde's future may come under the microscope once again following one of the worst losses in Barca's history.
"I don't know how this affects my future," the coach added. "We haven't had time to think about those things. But here we are and the coach has to take responsibility."
Valverde only signed a contract extension earlier this year but president Josep Maria Bartomeu wasn't prepared to back his manager after the harrowing defeat at Anfield. Instead, he called for the focus to be on the Copa del Rey final against Valencia on May 25.
"We're in the heat of the moment after the loss," he told reporters when asked about Valverde's long-term future on the Camp Nou bench. "Now we have to pick everyone up and get back on track because we still have a cup final to play.
"There are going to be some difficult days ahead, but we have to go again. There will be time to reflect on what went wrong and explain things. There's a cup final to play in three weeks. The same happened in Rome last year. It's tough to explain. We will do it internally."
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Liverpool comeback tops any magic Anfield's ever seen
Published in
Soccer
Tuesday, 07 May 2019 16:38
LIVERPOOL, England -- Jurgen Klopp hinted that he didn't believe Liverpool could pull off a Champions League miracle against Barcelona, admitting Monday that "beautiful failure" was perhaps the best his team could hope for against the Spanish champions.
Come on, Jurgen, you need to have more faith. Your players have shown they are capable of anything, but nothing can match this: a 4-0 rout of Barcelona when every odd was stacked against them.
Trailing 3-0 from the semifinal first leg in the Camp Nou, when Liverpool were taken down by the genius of Lionel Messi, Klopp and his players had the faintest of hope going into the second leg at Anfield. To make their task even more daunting, they had to make do without their two world-class forwards -- Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino -- due to injury.
But this is Liverpool, and this is Anfield, and, well, all the myths and fairy tales surrounding this place came true on an unforgettable night of pulsating and fearless football. Barcelona -- mighty Barcelona -- were ruthlessly dispatched with two goals from a makeshift striker (Georginio Wijnaldum) and another two from a player (Divock Origi) who was on loan at Wolfsburg at this time last season.
This was Liverpool's night, make no mistake about that. It was a comeback for the ages, topping anything this historic old ground has ever seen, but Barcelona played their part in a way they never could've imagined in their worst nightmares.
They were supposed to have learned their lessons from last season's quarterfinal meltdown in Rome, when a 3-0 defeat saw them crash out in the Stadio Olimpico, but this was worse. Barca collapsed. Perhaps they started the game believing it was won -- too complacent, too arrogant -- and Liverpool punished them mercilessly.
But this is what Liverpool do at Anfield on European nights, regardless of who is in charge on the touchline. From David "Supersub" Fairclough's winner against Saint-Etienne in 1977 to Luis Garcia's "ghost goal" that was enough to beat Chelsea in 2005 to the incredible fightback against Borussia Dortmund in 2016 and the pummeling of Manchester City last season, Anfield turns the men in red into superheroes when European glory is at stake, and Barca became the latest and greatest name on that lengthy list of victims.
Yet the noise from the Kop was only one ingredient of this stunning victory. The supporters were the 12th man, but Klopp and his players were the architects and builders of a win that took Liverpool to next month's final in Madrid.
Alisson, the Liverpool goalkeeper, was part of the Roma team that produced its own miracle against Barcelona last season, and he admitted that that result played a part in his preparation for this tie.
"You try to visualise it before the game, but it's nearly impossible to do, to imagine that things will work out just as you want them to," Alisson told Sky Italia. "It happened for me last year with Roma. It happened again tonight."
To turn this tie around, Liverpool had to get everything right. They could not afford Barcelona any opportunity to score a killer away goal, which would leave the home side needing to score five, and they had to take every big chance that came their way.
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-- Liverpool ratings: Origi, Fabinho top list of heroes vs. Barca
But good fortune smiled on Liverpool in the seventh minute, when Jordi Alba's misplaced header fell into the path of Sadio Mane, who fed the onrushing Jordan Henderson. The Liverpool captain burst into the penalty area and shot goalward, but his effort was saved by Marc-Andre ter Stegen. The Barca keeper could only palm the ball away, however, and Origi struck from 6 yards to give Liverpool the dream start.
Anfield shook, but Barcelona responded with fire, as Messi forced Alisson to tip a clipped shot over the bar on 14 minutes. Luis Suarez, once the darling of Anfield, became its enemy as he became embroiled in ugly tangles with Andy Robinson and Fabinho, prompting his old fans to decry him as a "cheat" and then sing "F--- off, Suarez!"
The passion in the stands drove the Liverpool players, but half-time arrived, and it was only 1-0. Liverpool needed two more goals. But Wijnaldum, a half-time replacement for the injured Robertson, earned himself a place in Liverpool folklore by scoring twice in the space of 120 seconds, on 54 and 56 minutes, to haul Klopp's team level on aggregate.
If Anfield shook after Origi's opener, it was now rocking from its foundations because the crowd sensed that Barcelona were falling to their knees. Even Messi looked shell-shocked by the scenes around him.
"Things got on top of us after those two quick goals," Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde admitted post-match. "We didn't manage to get on the score sheet, and they rolled us over, really."
Valverde was right. Barcelona were rolled over. So much for the best team in Spain; they simply crumbled when faced with Liverpool's intensity and hunger.
But it wasn't all done at 3-0. Barcelona were still in it, knowing one goal would swing the pendulum back in their favour and keep them on course for Madrid. Yet their world well and truly caved in on 79 minutes, when Origi struck again to make it 4-0 and put Liverpool ahead.
Barcelona simply fell asleep at a corner, with Trent Alexander-Arnold's cross to Origi catching them completely flat-footed. Origi still had a job to do by putting the ball into the net, but yes, this is Anfield, so where else was it going to end up?
It was 4-0, and thousands of Liverpudlians could start to book their flights to Madrid, while the same number of Catalans began to cancel their hotels. This was Liverpool's night, and nobody inside Anfield will ever forget it.
"The whole game was too much," Klopp said. "It was overwhelming. We played against maybe the best team in world. Winning is difficult, but winning with a clean sheet, I don't know how they did it. It's unbelievable.
"I saw James Milner crying on the pitch after the game. It means so much to all of us. It's the best phase of football. There are more important things in the world. But creating this emotional atmosphere together is so special."
Beautiful failure? Maybe not. Liverpool's sixth European Cup is waiting to be lifted next month.
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Jhye Richardson has been ruled out of the World Cup having failed to recover from the dislocated shoulder he suffered against Pakistan in the UAE. Kane Richardson has been drafted in to Australia's 15-man squad.
Jhye picked up the injury diving on the boundary during the second ODI in Sharjah and though he avoided needing surgery time has run out on him to be ready for the World Cup. Since Australia went into camp in Brisbane it has looked unlikely he would recover having not yet resumed bowling.
His next target is to be able available to join the Australia A tour of England which runs concurrent to the latter part of the World Cup and the build-up to the Ashes in a bid to make the Test squad for the series which starts on August 1.
Jhye's World Cup absence is a blow for Australia with him having made an impressive return to the Australia one-day side during the home summer. He has taken 24 wickets in 12 matches at 26.33.
"This is obviously very disappointing news for the team and for Jhye, who has been exceptional throughout his rehabilitation process," David Beakley, Australia's physiotherapist, said. "After his most recent assessment and attempting to bowl in the nets, it was clear that Jhye was not progressing as fast as required and therefore, in consultation with selectors, we made the decision to withdraw him from the squad.
"Jhye will continue with his rehabilitation and we will look to resume bowling in the coming weeks. At this stage we are still hopeful that he could be available for the Australia A tour of England."
For his namesake, Kane, the World Cup call-up completes a notable one-day comeback having drifted out of the reckoning until a prolific BBL - where he was the leading wicket-taker - earned him another chance, firstly for the India tour, which he was then ruled out of with injury, and then the Pakistan series in the UAE where he played two matches.
He was wicketless in the opening match against the New Zealand XI in Brisbane but was named for the second match.
He has been called up ahead of Josh Hazlewood who was the other quick confirmed as a reserve when the squad was named last month. Hazlewood has yet to bowl at full pace in his recovery from the back stress fracture which has kept him out of action since the final Test against India in early January.
Sean Abbott and Michael Neser, who are both part of the Australia A squad, were included in the Australian 12 for the second practice match at Allan Border Field and Mitchell Starc got his first outing since the final Test against Sri Lanka when he suffered a pectoral injury.
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