LIVERPOOL, England — Real Madrid left Liverpool on the brink of Champions League elimination after fighting back from a two-goal deficit to win 5-2 in a classic game at Anfield.
Reigning European champions Real Madrid had fallen 2-0 down inside 14 minutes after goals from Liverpool’s Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah. But two Vinicius Junior goals hauled the Spanish side level before half-time and Real Madrid pulled clear in the second-half with a Eder Militao header and two strikes from Karim Benzema.
This is a result that will sit high even in Real Madrid’s illustrious hall of fame — but it will also be unforgettable for all the wrong reasons for Liverpool, who made history with their biggest-ever Champions League defeat.
Rapid reaction
1. Real Madrid humiliate Liverpool in a Champions League classic
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was right to speak in tones of reverence about Real Madrid prior to this Champions League tie. He had said that no other team could win quite like Real when the odds are stacked against them, and he was proved right as the reigning European champions stunned his team at Anfield on Tuesday.
It had looked like being another historic Champions League night for Liverpool when they raced into a 2-0 lead inside 14 minutes. Having made Anfield such a fortress in Europe over the years, Liverpool seemed odds-on for a decisive first-leg win.
But Real are unlike any other team. The vast majority of teams would have crumbled at 2-0 down, but unlike Barcelona in 2019 — who saw a 3-0 semifinal first-leg lead blown away in a 4-0 defeat here — Real turned a lost cause into a winning one to inflict Liverpool’s biggest-ever Champions League loss.
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At 2-0 down, Real didn’t let panic set in. They just calmly held their nerve, knowing that chances would come to claw their way back into the game. Just like last season, when they overturned similarly bleak situations against Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City, Real backed their quality and experience, and it paid off in spectacular fashion.
Vinicius Junior’s two goals in the 21st and 26th minutes, hauled them level before Eder Militao headed Real into the lead on 47 minutes. And from that point on, there was no looking back. Two more goals from Karim Benzema sealed a 5-2 win to put Real in command ahead of the second-leg in Madrid next month.
In years to come, this win will still sting for Liverpool as much as it will be remembered in Madrid. So many teams have seen their European hopes crushed at a raucous Anfield over the years, but this Real Madrid team is made of sterner stuff and they showed that Anfield isn’t quite so scary after all.
2. Vini Jr. proves his credentials as a superstar
Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford might just have some competition for the title of the hottest player in Europe right now from Vinicius Junior.
The Real Madrid winger is certainly the biggest thorn in Liverpool’s side having taken his tally against them to five goals in five games. No player has scored more goals against Liverpool in the Champions League than Vinicius, who also scored the winner in Real’s 1-0 victory against Liverpool team in last season’s Champions League final in Paris.
Rashford’s hot streak at Manchester United — with 16 goals in 17 games since the World Cup — has quite rightly led to him being acclaimed as the best forward in the game at this moment in time. But Vini Jr’s performance at Anfield was sensational and, with it being on the Champions League stage, it was arguably more impressive than anything Rashford has managed during his recent run.
Vini Jr. now has 18 goals in 35 games for Real Madrid this season after becoming the youngest player to score twice against Liverpool in a European game at Anfield since Johan Cruyff for Ajax in 1966.
