Luis Suarez was right to celebrate for Barcelona - Paul Parker

Some Liverpool fans may be upset, but Suarez had every right to celebrate his goal for Barcelona last night.

After all, Liverpool fans would have been up in the gods, and he didn’t celebrate directly in front of them. Let’s be realistic about Suarez, he wasn’t born in Liverpool, and it’s not like he was there with them for a decade. He has a right to do it.

You can’t feel anything against players like that when they score against you. He made a point of saying he was desperate to leave Liverpool in order to join Barcelona.

Yes, he respects them because they made him and he was at the heart of their success for a time, but he doesn’t owe them. He owes the 85,000 Barcelona fans who want him to play with his heart for them and them alone.

Liverpool have to open up to level the scores in the second leg, and it gives Barcelona a chance to pick them off. Liverpool could and should have scored last night, so they can clearly get at the Barca defence. The problem is that was true at the Nou Camp, but Barcelona were more clinical - that was the difference.

It will be hard for them, though. Liverpool take a 3-0 deficit to Anfield, but we can’t say that they face an impossible task yet. At Anfield, Liverpool fans can make things really horrible. I hope that the police will protect Barcelona’s coach given what happened to Manchester City’s last year.

Many fans at Anfield - they only like you when they know they’re going to beat you. When I visited with Manchester United, it could be pure hatred from some. If you can take something away from many fans, like the Premier League, or the Champions League, they could be quite nasty. Having said that, I’d rather play at Anfield than play at Galatasaray again. We got hit with batons by the police after the game there.

Playing after a European defeat is always a struggle. We got knocked out in the group stages against Galatasaray, and then the next weekend we went to Manchester City and got Turkish Delight chucked at us from the crowd.

Facing Newcastle on Saturday, Liverpool players will be tormented. Newcastle will get at them, and Rafael Benitez will be trying his best for the home fans, just as Suarez did.

Liverpool’s players will find it almost impossible not to lose focus. The main thing is to get the defeat out of your head, but you just can’t. The players know they have to play them again on Tuesday and score at least three goals, but that’s after they have another must-win game.

People seem to be willing Liverpool on to the title, but what matters is the final victory, not now. Everyone loves stats until they can’t paint themselves in a favourable light, and then they go with their heart. Last week for example, Manchester CIty’s game against Burnley was treated as a potential banana skin, ignoring that City were almost always going to win it.

It will be interesting to see if Liverpool lose to Newcastle, how much attention will be paid to their defensive record in Europe, which is much less impressive. Given Liverpool will almost certainly need a clean sheet next Tuesday, it can’t be ignored.

It’s annoying when people bring up stats about Messi to be negative - that he had never scored against Liverpool, this team or that team, because he’s barely played against some clubs. People bring up silly stats about what he hasn’t done, but it’s all about what he keeps doing.

There isn’t a better player in football than Messi. And if you’re talking about a footballer who makes goals, scores goals, gets people off their seats and gets them through the turnstiles, then there simply isn’t anyone bigger.

Paul Parker on Twitter - @realpaulparker2