Ivan Rakitic reveals Barcelona dressing room feeling after 'gifting' Liverpool famous Champions League win

Former Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic remains adamant Liverpool were "gifted" their extraordinary Champions League semi-final comeback victory on their way to winning the competition in 2019.

Jurgen Klopp's side were down and out after a 3-0 loss to Barcelona in the first leg at Camp Nou. But, against all the odds, they produced a quite simply remarkable performance to stun the La Liga giants at Anfield.

Divock Origi set the tone of what was to come from the Reds after pulling one goal back after seven minutes played and Gini Wijnaldum cranked up the decibel levels inside the stadium after his quick-fire double at the start of the second half left the teams level on aggregate with over 30 minutes remaining.

Origi, of course, followed up his opener with a finish from close range to seal a sensational 4-0 win and book Liverpool's place in the Champions League final. Anfield had not seen a night as special as this for years and it is unlikely an achievement of this scale will be matched anytime soon.

As good as the Reds were, plenty of questions were asked over how Barcelona collapsed in such fashion having exited the competition in similar style the previous year against Roma. A 4-1 win at Camp Nou looked to have set the Catalan club on their way to the semi-finals, though a 3-0 defeat in Rome saw them crash out on away goals.

Making sense of the events of Anfield four years on from this harrowing night, Rakitic - who left Barcelona to return to his previous club Sevilla in 2020 - believes he and his team-mates had done enough regardless to become eventual winners of the 2019 Champions League.

Asked to describe the mood in the dressing room after the 4-0 loss, the Croatian midfielder told FourFourTwo: "Shocked. Something similar happened at Roma the year before, when we lost the second leg 3-0, and it was just like that. Those are the hardest moments you have to experience in football. So, when it happened again... every team tries their best to win matches, and when you're not at your highest level, anything can happen.

"Losing at Anfield was hard, because during that whole season we did a lot to be champions. In 90 minutes, we lost the whole year. We offered two great gifts in those two seasons, because I think normally Barcelona have to be winners of those two Champions League titles."

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