A Champions League blockbuster played on Tuesday night ended 5-2 in favour of Real Madrid; Liverpool’s poor league form exposed
The UEFA Champions League Round of 16 fixture between Liverpool and Real Madrid was set up like a final. The venue- Anfield- felt like Liverpool was on their way to Istanbul for the final, no matter the opposition they were to face.
Liverpool took the lead from a fantastic Darwin Nunez back flick past Courtois, Salah with the assist. It was all going Liverpool’s way when Courtois made a howler by failing to clear the ball. Salah poached and capitalized. It was 2-0 to Liverpool in just 14 minutes.
However, Real Madrid was characteristically calm and fully confident moving forward, and they exposed Liverpool’s current poor form that sees them 8th in the Premier League table.
Vinicius Jr found the bottom corner from a tight angle to bring Los Blancos back into the fixture. 15 minutes later, Liverpool’s Alisson made a huge error in goal, playing out of the back and the ball ricocheting against Vinicius and into an open net. 2-2, Game On!
Real Madrid gradually eased into the game and at half time momentum seemed to be swinging in their favor.
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In the second half, it took just two minutes for Real Madrid center-back Eder Militao, from a pin-point Modric freekick at the edge of the box headed to give the FIFA Club World Cup Champions the lead.
Benzema and Vinicius Jr run riot against Liverpool and after some good link-up play on the wing, Benzema scored to double Real’s lead, albeit off a deflection from out-of-sorts Joe Gomez.
The experience in midfield as well as their creativity and youth upfront saw Real Madrid get a foothold in the remainder of the fixture. Benzema then completed his brace from excellent work by Modric in midfield, storming through Liverpool’s backline before finding Vinicius. Benzema gets assisted and is calm in front of goal to give Madrid the 3-goal advantage heading into the second half.
Speaking to SkySports after the fixture, Ancelotti played down thoughts that the tie was over before the second leg in Madrid, “We have the advantage in the tie in this first 90 minutes. Now we need to control the second half of the tie in Madrid. Liverpool created lot of problems early on and we have to expect the same in the second leg. Unfortunately, I cannot say the tie is decided yet.”
In other fixtures;
Victor Osimhen and Giovanni Di Lorenzo gave Napoli a 2-0 win away at Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie.
