When the referee blew for full time, it was clear that Real Madrid had won the first meeting between last year’s finalists 5–2.
Who would have guessed when the quarter was played at Anfield?
So far, Liverpool had kicked off the match in front of the home crowd. Already in the fourth minute, they took the lead nicely, when Mohamed Salah caressed in a perfect ball from the right wing that Darwin Nuñez steered in behind Thibaut Courtois in the Real goal.
It looked like it was going to be a miserable evening for “Los blancos” when ten minutes later the Belgian stood for a mammoth painting, worthy of a place of honor at the Prado Museum back home in Madrid. The world goalkeeper Courtois suddenly held the class of a raven and when he fumbled the ball away with his right knee, Salah struck like a cobra – 2-0.
Five in a row
But it’s not for nothing that Real Madrid are by far the best of all time in the European Cup and Champions League, with the 14th title taken in the final against Liverpool this summer.
Now Real Madrid faced a huge turnaround – with five goals between the 21st and 67th minutes of the match.
It started with last year’s final hero Vinícius Jr screwing in the reduction with precision behind Brazilian compatriot Alisson Becker.
It went on to say that Becker – how is that possible? – managed to surpass Courtois in the art of making a goalie board. Becker nonchalantly passed straight to Vinícius Jr and it couldn’t have been better than for the ball to go in an arc into the Liverpool goal.
2-2 – and there was more to come after the break.
Benzema scored two
Luka Modric hit a free kick that Eder Militão headed in to make it 3-2 for the visitors. Karim Benzema shot, somewhat fortunately, 4-2 via centre-back Joe Gomez. It was also the French attacking star who dribbled forward and played in 5-2 at the cross, as Liverpool’s defense collapsed like a house of cards in front of an increasingly frustrated home crowd.
— We started a bit badly, and we know that Liverpool and their fans put a lot of pressure. But after 15-20 minutes we saw Real Madrid, Benzema told Movistar.
The Frenchman also said the win was dedicated to club legend Amancio Amaro, who died at the age of 83 earlier on Tuesday.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson was also frustrated afterwards.
— In large parts of the first half we played well, we were a bit unlucky to only have a draw at half time. We made too many mistakes around the goals and when you make too many mistakes a team like Madrid will punish you, he said according to the AFP news agency.
Everything suggests that Real Madrid can hold off in the return at the Santiago Bernabéu on March 15.
Much also speaks for Napoli getting to play the quarter-finals later this spring. This after 2-0 away to Eintracht Frankfurt, in a match where Napoli missed a penalty before Victor Osimhen and Giovanni Di Lorenzo scored the goals that give a solid advantage before round two in Naples.