Mysticism. Real Madrid turned it around, beating Liverpool 5-2 in the Champions League round of 16 first leg. Benzema (2), Vinícius (2) and Militao scored for the Spanish team.
By: Luis Imana
A spectacle was witnessed at Anfield where Real Madrid displayed all their hierarchy after coming back 5-2 against Liverpool in the first leg of the round of 16 UEFA Champions League.
The ‘Reds’ got off to a devastating start which was reflected on the scoreboard. With just 3 minutes to go, Darwin Núñez used a filtered pass into Mohamed Salah’s box to score the game’s first goal with an exquisite cue.
This fell like a bucket of cold water for the meringues, especially in the case of Thibaut Courtois, who made a huge blunder at 14′ by poorly controlling the ball and letting it lie Mohammed Salah. The Egyptian attacker, with no one to mark him, defined the sight on goal and built the advantage.
With Liverpool 2-0 up, the locals seemed in control; However, Vinícius Júnior came on after 21 minutes to hit the tee shot with whiplash at the far post. That goal offered renewed hope for the reigning Champions League champion, who began to change the course of the game.
After 35 minutes, Alisson tried to pass the ball to Trent Alexander-Arnold, but the ball bounced off Vinícius and landed in the net, where, due to a huge mistake by the Brazilian goalkeeper, he equalized temporarily.
After recovering on the scoreboard, Real Madrid came out with a different face in the plugin and showed it from the start. In the 47th minute, Eder Militao headed in Luka Modric’s free-kick to make it 3-2, but it wasn’t the last goal for the Meringues.
The Spaniards kept their foot on the accelerator and at 54′ capitalized a new goal from Karim Benzema, whose shot was deflected by Joe Gomez and then went into the English goal.
The current Ballon d’Or had one goal left before the game was over as he sealed victory on 66 minutes after leaving Alisson on the ground and scoring uncontested.
failed. Courtois made a huge mistake in Salah’s goal. Photo: spread
In doing so, the Meringues secured a historic win that puts them closer to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. Led by Carlo Ancelotti, the team became the first club in history to score five goals for the European tournament at Anfield.
Despite the result, Carleto admitted his players had to work to recover after such a difficult start. Likewise, the Italian is aware that he will have to fight the same way in the second leg to secure a place in the next round.
“We suffered a lot at the beginning. We didn’t expect such a start. As with this team, we kept a cool head. Little by little we turned it around with the quality we have. The attack was very effective. We got out of their pressure and created problems. We improved our defense and made the difference in the second half. Vinícius, Benzema and Rodrygo were very successful and ready,” explained the Real Madrid strategist after the game.
On Wednesday 15th March, the Meringues and the ‘Reds’ meet again at the Santiago Bernabéu, where Benzema and his rivals could afford to lose by 2 goals and still qualify.
Did you know…
Increase. Karim Benzema has scored a total of 6 goals for Liverpool in 7 Champions League games.
Dryness. Liverpool have gone 7 straight games without beating Real Madrid in the Champions League. The “Reds” haven’t beaten the merengue team since 2009.