By Peter Hall
Defending champions Real Madrid produced a stunning comeback from two goals down to earn a devastating 5-2 victory at Liverpool in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
In a rerun of last year’s final, the first half on Tuesday (Wednesday AEDT) was played at a ferocious pace, with the hosts racing into a fourth-minute lead through a superb Darwin Nunez flick – the quickest goal Liverpool have scored at Anfield in the Champions League.
The home crowd erupted 10 minutes later when a horrendous miscontrol by Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois left Mohamed Salah with the simple task of slotting the ball home to make it 2-0.
Yet just as they did on several occasions en route to their 14th European Cup crown last season, Real quickly turned things around. Vinicius jnr scored a sublime strike, and one fluke goal after another goalkeeping mistake levelled the match by half-time.
A bullet Eder Militao header put Real in front early in the second half, sapping all the life out of the Anfield crowd in the process.
The hosts’ misery was not done there, however. Karim Benzema’s double ensured Liverpool shipped five goals at home for only the third time this century in all competitions, leaving them with a monumental task to reach the quarter-finals.
Karim Benzema celebrates after scoring Real’s fifth goal.Credit:AP
In the night’s other last-16 game, goals from Victor Osimhen and Giovanni Di Lorenzo gave Napoli a comfortable 2-0 victory at 10-man Eintracht Frankfurt.
In-form Nigeria striker Osimhen, who has scored 10 goals in his last nine games across all competitions, tapped in at the far post to give his team a 40th-minute lead.
