Real Madrid thrashed Liverpool 5-2 at Anfield and the tie seems to be out of reach for the Premier League side in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16.
The UEFA Champions League has reached the Quarter-final stage with Manchester City confirming their place with an emphatic 7-0 win against RB Leipzig at the Etihad on Tuesday night. Erling Haaland scored 5. In the other fixture, Inter Milan also booked their spot after holding Porto to a barren draw, winning 1-0 on aggregate.
On Wednesday night, Real Madrid host an inconsistent Liverpool, who after beating rivals Manchester United 7-0, lost to a relegation-threatened club, Bournemouth 1-0 on Saturday. Carlo Ancelotti’s veteran-inspired Madrid pulled off a comeback victory from 2-0 down to beat Liverpool 5-2 at Anfield. Both keepers made huge errors at the back, something unlikely to happen in tonight’s fixture.
Liverpool are the kings of comebacks but this time they face a strong opponent who had a comfortable 3-1 win on Saturday in LaLiga over Espanyol. To top it off, Divock Origi is no longer at Anfield. Benzema missed the Espanyol fixture due to an ankle problem but is reported to have returned to training this week ahead of the Champion League clash.
A midfield problem is also posing a threat to derail Jurgen Klopp’s preparations as Arthur was not named in their Champions League knockout squad and Naby Keita is a minor doubt owing to an injury. Jordan Henderson (sickness) and Stefan Bajcetic (adductor) are other late absentees.
Predicted Lineups
Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Rudiger, Nacho; Modric, Tchouameni, Kroos; Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius Jr
Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Keita; Salah, Jota, Nunez; Gakpo
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Serie A Leaders Napoli Have 2-0 Advantage Over Eintracht Frankfurt
Victor Osimhen and Giovanni Di Lorenzo scored in both halves of the first-leg fixture in Germany. Napoli, who have won all three of their home Champions League matches this season while scoring at least three goals in each, are back at home where they are unbeaten in their last 11 home games in the competition. They now have 22 goals in the competition.
In the first leg, Randal Kolo Muani was shown a red card in the 58th minute and will miss the return leg in Italy at the Diego Maradona Stadium. Frankfurt also enters this encounter without a victory in any of their three games following the loss in the first leg. They lost 2-1 away to RB Leipzig before suffering 2-2 and 1-1 draws against Wolfsburg and Stuttgart, respectively.
Last season’s Europa League winners, Frankfurt, will still have plenty to play for having lost just 3 of their last 20 matches in Europe with 10 wins for Oliver Glasner’s men.
Predicted Lineups
Napoli: Alex Meret; Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani, Kim Min-jae, Mario Rui; Stanislav Lobotka, Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa, Piotr Zielinksi; Kvicha Kvaratskhelia, Victor Osimhen, Hirving Lozano
Eintracht Frankfurt: Kevin Trapp; Makoto Hasebe, Evan N’Dicka, Tuta; Ansgar Knauff, Djibril Sow, Sebastian Rode, Philipp Max; Daichi Kamada, Mario Götze; Rafael Borre
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