Rio Ferdinand applauds Liverpool after knocking Barcelona out of the Champions League

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Rio Ferdinand paid Liverpool immense respect after their stunning win over Barcelona on Tuesday night to reach the Champions League final.

Jurgen Klopp’s team managed to overturn a 3-0 aggregate scoreline from the first leg, by winning 4-0 at Anfield against the Spanish giants.

Divock Origi (two) and Georginio Wijnaldum (two) scored the goals to put the Merseyside club into the final, where either Tottenham or Ajax will be waiting.

The Reds lost the Champions League final to Real Madrid last season, but will have a shot at redemption this time around.

Pundit Ferdinand reacted straight after full-time to Liverpool’s memorable victory and gave special praise to manager Klopp.

“I played for a rival in Manchester United, but you cannot fail to have respect for this stadium when you come here,” Ferdinand said on televised channel BT Sport 2 (10:05pm, 7 May).

“They took it out of Barcelona’s hands. The spirit, the heart shown, the belief in this squad. And that all starts from the top, that all starts from Klopp.

“You’ve got to look at Klopp and think is he someone that can motivate a changing room? This is the answer here. Here tonight, what they produced tonight is breathtaking.”

TBR’s View:

Liverpool really are the real deal this season and they are going to be favourites when the final kicks off against either Spurs or Ajax.

They managed yet another famous European night at Anfield to overturn a talented Barcelona team and it was perhaps the best of the lot.

With Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino watching from the sidelines, centre-forward Origi came in to become a hero and has a habit of scoring big goals.

Meanwhile, Wijnaldum only came on at half-time to replace injured teammate Andy Robertson and he made a colossal impact.

They may just miss out on the Premier League title to Manchester City by the looks of it, but could get the silverware in Europe that their season deserves.