Valverde's recipe to lead Barça into Champions League final

Barcelona are 90 minutes away from making their dream return to the Champions League final. And the sensation the players and the coaching staff have as they travel to Liverpool on Monday for their semifinal second leg on Tuesday is that one goal will be enough to book their place in the showpiece in Madrid on June 1. One goal would oblige Liverpool to score five, which is a huge ask, especially keeping in mind Marc Andre ter Stegen's conceded six since the competition began in September. 

More than in any other game, a goal is a passport to the final. And if Ernesto Valverde's Barça side know anything, it's how to score: they have the best goal different in the competition, with 20 goals scored and six conceded. 

THE PLAYERS DEMAND 

The final is so close that Valverde and his players have visualised the first stages of the game: getting out on the Anfield pitch extra motivated, without giving their hosts a chance to think about a comeback. And, above all, to score as soon as possible, because an away goal would almost kill the tie and make Barça the first finalists. Ajax and Tottenham meet in the other semi on Wednesday. 

The players know the need to score as soon as possible before even listening to Valverde's plans for the game. 

An injury to Ousmane Dembele -- who, along with Rafinha, is the only absentee -- conditions Valverde's plans slightly. He could return to 4-4-2 against Jurgen Klopp's dangerous team. 

There are no doubts in defence beyond the right-back position, given Sergi Roberto could step into midfield. In that scenario, Nelson Semedo would come into the team. The foward line will feature Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez and Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic could be joined by Arturo Vidal and Sergi Roberto. 

SUAREZ's CHALLENGE 

In attack, it will be the goal scorers from the first leg, Messi and Suarez. The Uruguayan now has the challenge of scoring his first away goal in Europe in three and a half years, when he scored against Roma in the group stages. 

If it is 4-4-2, Philippe Coutinho will lose out. He didn't do too well in the first leg. But if Valverde does stick with him on his return to Anfield, where he grew into a star, Barça will pick the same side as last week, with Coutinho joining Messi and Suarez in the front three. Busquets, Vidal and Rakitic would be behind them. Another Brazilian, Arthur, would appear set for a place on the bench after starting at Celta Vigo on Saturday. 

If Barça get the job done at Anfield, they will reach their first Champions League final since 2015 and will be involved in the game at Atletico Madrid's Wanda on June 1. They have quarterfinal defeats to Atletico, Juventus and, especially, Roma to delete from their memories. 

liverpool, 5 FROM 17

Liverpool don't do especially well against Spanish sides, not even at Anfield. The Reds have only won five of their last 17 games against Spanish visitors, drawing seven times and losing five times. 

Barça are hoping to balance out their semifinal record in the European Cup: they have won seven times and lost eight, the last against Bayern Munich in 2013. 

The game could also crown Messi as the competition's top scorer. He has 12 this season. It's the first time since 2012 that he leads the way on his own. Having the Champions League's top scorer will be a plus at Anfield and could buy the ticket to Madrid next month, where Barça hope to compete for that "beautiful, desired trophy" which Messi marked as the objective at the beginning of the campaign.