Liverpool suffered an astonishing 5-2 defeat to Real Madrid at Anfield on Tuesday, as the world witnessed perhaps the beginning of the end of the Jurgen Klopp era as the Reds were all but officially eliminated in the Champions League round of 16.
From 2-0 up after 15 minutes, to 5-2 down just 52 minutes later, Liverpool were helpless to slow down the same Real Madrid side that beat them 1-0 in last season’s UCL final.
Klopp and Company couldn’t have begun faster or brighter, with Darwin Nunez getting on the end of Mohamed Salah’s cross and flicked a brilliant backheel past Thibaut Courtois in the 4th minute. 10 minutes later, a sleepy backpass turned into a nightmare as the ball bounced off Courtois’s knee and fell to Salah atop the six-yard and the Anfield faithful roared to life once again.
The good times came to an abrupt end, though, as Vinicius Junior cut in from the left wing and placed an inch-perfect strike inside the far post for 2-1 after 21 minutes. 15 minutes later, it was Alisson’s turn to gift a goal as Joe Gomez played him the ball and, rather than booting it clear, played it off Vinicius’s leg and watched helplessly as it looped and spun high in the Merseyside sky and bounced into an empty goal.
Goal no. 3 came just two minutes into the second half with Eder Militao running across the six-yard box unmarked and heading home Luka Modric’s free kick to take the lead. Karim Benzema got involved with his first goal in the 55th minute, playing a quick one-two with Rodrygo before his shot ricocheted off Joe Gomez and bounced past a distraught, wrong-footed Alisson for 4-2.
Benzema’s second goal was far more brilliant with Luka Modric starting the counter-attack by finding Vinicius, who slipped the ball to Benzema as Alisson raced off his line. Benzema sat the Brazilian on his backside as he rounded the goalkeeper and hammered a left-footed finish past two defenders at the near post. Demolition complete.
Liverpool will head to the Spanish capital for the second leg in three weeks’ time, on March 15, where they might try to overturn the three-goal deficit, or Klopp, assuming he is still in charge, could opt to field a weakened side as they chase a top-four finish in the Premier League.
