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.

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"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.

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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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."

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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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.

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.

New Zealand batsman Will Young has made the tough decision to put shoulder surgery ahead of being a World Cup reserve and could be out of action for the rest of the year.

Young is currently uncapped at international level but was due to make his Test debut in place of the injured Kane Williamson in the final Test against Bangladesh in Christchurch before the match was called off due to the terror attack in the city.

He was handed a central contract last week to put him in the leading 20 players in the country and is currently part of the squad playing the Australians in Brisbane.

However, at a training camp in Lincoln last month he damaged his right shoulder and while he is able to battle through the pain to bat - he made an impressive 60 in the opening match against the Australians - he is restricted in the field. So he has taken the decision to sort out the problem now rather than risk further damage.

"My throwing shoulder isn't really where it needs to be, I've been in quite a lot of pain throwing," he told Radio Sport. I had an MRI scan the day before I flew out to Australia and the results weren't good - I've done some damage in there that requires surgery. I've had a chat to [coach Gary Stead] and the physios and the doctors and we've come to the conclusion that surgery will be required on my shoulder.

"So, after these games in Australia, I'm going to be returning home to get that surgery done as soon as possible and to start the lengthy rehab process - which is something I'm not looking forward to and is hugely gutting, just after it was announced that I was getting a contract."

The recovery period is six to nine months, meaning he will miss the chance of being part of the tour to Sri Lanka later in the year and probably the home series against England followed by the Test tour of Australia.

"There's a huge amount of 'ifs' going all the way to England as batting cover - you might get added to the squad if something bad happens to one of the top batsmen, but you're not even guaranteed there to get a game, so there were too many 'ifs' to play through the pain and go down that route.

"It means I'm not going over to play some club cricket in England, and perhaps be batting cover over there, but I need to be able to throw and hopefully I've got a few more years left in me yet. So I'll get that throwing shoulder sorted and then hit the ground running by next New Zealand summer. I think the right decision was made to get back home, and get it sorted out as soon as possible."

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."

Ogden: Barca bear witness to Anfield's European magic

Barcelona player ratings: Alba 3/0 in another UCL heartbreak

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."

DENVER -- A shaken Michael Malone pleaded for something to change after a school shooting that left one student dead took place at a Highlands Ranch public charter school in his suburban Denver community.

The Denver Nuggets coach was upset, with his eyes beginning to well up, while talking about the latest school shooting in America and how his two middle school-aged daughters -- who attend a different school -- experienced a lockdown for the second time in three weeks due to a shooting threat.

One student was killed and at least seven others injured in Tuesday's shooting at the STEM school in Highlands Ranch, according to the Douglas County Sheriff's office, who also said two suspects are in custody.

The Nuggets had a moment of silence before their Game 5 against the Portland Trail Blazers.

"The [STEM] school is literally two minutes away from where I live, right down Broadway in Highlands Ranch," Malone said. "My wife and daughters know people. As a coach, I am somewhat of a recluse but it's a close community.

"It's not just Highlands Ranch. It's not just Colorado. This is an epidemic. And it continues to happen. And that is the frustrating thing. How do you stop it? Again, gun control, laws, whatever it might be. I am not a politician. I don't want to sit up here on a soap box. I just want everybody back at Highlands Ranch to know that we're with you and that is very important for them to know."

Malone said he was at the Pepsi Center preparing for the game when his wife, Jocelyn, called to tell him about the shooting and that their daughters were safe but scared.

"The thing that makes you angry is that, she's telling me how scared my daughters are in their schools, texting her, because they don't know what's going on -- it's a lockout," Malone said of his conversation with his wife earlier on Tuesday. "Where's this shooter? Is it at our school? Some other school? The kids go to school, they should be going to school to learn, have fun, be with their friends. Not worry about an active shooter. ... It's just frustrating and it gets you angry because it hits home. And that's how I felt today."

Blazers center Enes Kanter shared his condolences with the Denver community on social media before Game 5.

So sad to hear about the shooting in Denver. Although we play against @nuggets tonight, we are hurting now. ?
My heart is with the kids and their families. The @trailblazers sending prayers to you and stand with the Denver community! ?

— Enes Kanter (@Enes_Kanter) May 7, 2019

Malone said he likely would not bring up the shooting with his team before the game. However, he was asked how he plans to address the situation with his daughters.

"That's a great question and, you know, that's something I haven't even really thought about," Malone said as his eyes began to get watery. "I'm texting my daughter, telling her she's going to be OK. I don't even know if she will be OK.

"This is every parent's worst nightmare and it's something that when you see your kids go to school in the morning, it's 'have a great day' and just assume everything is going to be all right. And as we all know, it's not. So, you figure it out."

This is the second time in recent weeks schools in the area have been closed or locked down due to a shooting threat. Three weeks ago, authorities shut down local schools as they searched for a Florida woman with an apparent "infatuation" with the Columbine shooting who had traveled to Colorado and had purchased a shotgun in the area. The woman was found dead on April 17 of an apparent suicide, according to authorities.

The STEM Highlands Ranch campus is not far from Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. On April 20, 1999, two gunmen murdered 12 fellow students and a teacher in a mass shooting at Columbine.

"I know thoughts and prayers are never enough," Malone said. "And from myself, our team, our organization, our thoughts and prayers are with all those families, students, school administrators, everybody that was there today. It's a tragedy.

"I would like to say a thank you to the Douglas County Sheriff's Department that was there, on top of it, in matter of minutes and all the first responders that were there and allowing that to not become worse than it was," Malone added. "But it's a shame. My girls have been in a lockout twice in the last month. I'm not a politician, I don't have the answers, but something must change. So I just want to make sure that I acknowledge what happened today in my backyard and all those families are on my mind."

DENVER -- The last-place San Francisco Giants have made a series of roster moves, including the promotion of outfielder Mac Williamson after he missed most of last season because of a concussion and its lingering effects.

Williamson and infielder Donovan Solano were selected from Triple-A Sacramento and lefty Williams Jerez was recalled from the minor league team before Tuesday night's game at Colorado.

Playing in left field and batting sixth, Williamson celebrated his return with a three-run home run in the fourth inning and an RBI single in the fifth.

The Giants' roster shake-up began after Monday's 12-4 loss at Cincinnati when the Giants optioned outfielder Mike Gerber and switch-pitcher Pat Venditte to Triple-A.

It continued when infielder Yangervis Solarte, who was hitting .205 in 28 games, was designated for assignment. Also, veteran outfielder Gerardo Parra became a free agent after deciding against going back to the minors -- he was batting .198 in 30 games after hitting .284 for Colorado last season.

Williamson's return to the Giants capped a long-running comeback story. He suffered a concussion when he tripped over a bullpen mound as he chased after a foul ball in April 2018 and persistent symptoms caused him to miss much of the rest of the season. He hit .213 in 28 games for San Francisco.

Williamson had a tough spring training and the Giants designated him for assignment as they broke camp. He accepted an assignment to Sacramento and began to gain notice with his hitting and defensive play. He was batting .378 with nine home runs, including three in a game Monday at Triple-A.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.