Paul Stewart column: Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur have it all to do after Barcelona and Ajax Champions League defeats

The remaining English sides faced off against their respective opponents on consecutive nights, providing us with a real insight into the quality – and also the fine margins – required to advance.

I’ll start with the first of my old clubs, Spurs, who faced Ajax at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

It’s often said that football is a game of two halves and that couldn’t have been more evident than within this game.

Ajax are a team in form, having already claimed the scalps of Real Madrid and Juventus in previous rounds and this is a throwback to some of the classic Ajax sides of yesteryear; packed to the rafters with young, homegrown talent and an average age of somewhere between 23-24, showing why their academy is still held in such high esteem.

Spurs went into the game missing Harry Kane and Heung-Min Son with Ajax making a fast start and taking an early lead through Donny van der Beek.

For the next 35 minutes it looked like Ajax were going to put the game beyond Spurs’ reach, seamlessly taking them apart with some great passing around the 18-yard box.

It wasn’t until an unfortunate injury to Jan Vertonghen that the tide began to swing for the home side.

The second half began how the first ended, with Spurs starting stronger and beginning to get a foothold in the tie.

Unfortunately, they lacked an end product and, perhaps more pertinently, a Kane or a Son.

Spurs now travel to Amsterdam next Wednesday trailing 1-0; a result that is well within their capability of overturning but Ajax might have other ideas.

Now onto the other semi-final and another one of my former clubs, as Liverpool travelled to the Camp Nou to take on Barcelona, who needed no introduction.

Jurgen Klopp made a few changes to the Liverpool side with Joe Gomez coming in after only playing 10 minutes since December’s lower leg fracture.

Maybe slightly more perplexing was the inclusion of Georginio Winjnaldum in the false nine position usually held by Roberto Firmino.

I considered Barcelona to have had an early let-off when Sadio Mane went down inside the area but it was a very even game until Luis Suarez put them in front in the 25th minute.

Mane fluffed his lines again before half-time but Liverpool started the second half strongly with James Milner twice denied by Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

At this point, it really looking like it wasn’t going to be Liverpool’s night – and that was before Lionel Messi scored a routine goal after Suarez struck the bar.

Firmino came on and almost snatched a vital away goal, only to see his effort cleared off the line with Mo Salah hitting the post from the rebound.

Then, with eight minutes left, Messi took centre stage again with his 600th goal for Barcelona; an incredible goal with a 30-yard free-kick curled into the top corner.

The 3-0 win means Barcelona are well and truly in command of the tie ahead of the second leg at Anfield on Tuesday.

That is a game which may be well beyond the reach of Liverpool, even considering some of the miracles we have seen over the years.

If they are to get a foothold in the second leg they will have to look to the fast starts we’ve become used to in previous seasons – but it’s surely the steepest of mountains to climb at this stage.

It looks like a Barca-Ajax final but I feel Spurs have a better chance than Liverpool of overcoming their deficit.

It would be disappointing if we are not represented in the final.

Are we again going to fall short at the final hurdle? I fear we are.