Spanish La Liga champions and Champions League defending champions Real Madrid ran riot against Liverpool at Anfield in their first Champions League round of 16 games. The English Premier League side have been left with a mountainous task to keep their Champions League ambitions alive. They were humiliated in front of their fans as they were torn apart 5-2 by Real Madrid.
The two teams met in the finals last season but this season’s score line is far from the score line of last season. Real who beat them in last season’s final in Paris. They have now thrashed them 5-2 to become the first side to score five at Anfield in Europe despite going two goals down early on as Liverpool made a dream start to this last-16 tie.
Darwin Nunez’s brilliant flick put Liverpool ahead after only four minutes into the game before Mohamed Salah cashed in on Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois’ error to double their advantage 10 minutes later.
Real did not relent as their Brazilian star Vinicius Junior put one in with a brilliant 21st-minute strike before goalkeeper Alisson made an error hacking a clearance straight at the Brazilian, holding his head in anguish as the ball looped behind him into the net. That marked the beginning of the fall of the home team as the third goal came in two minutes after the break when another Brazilian Eder Militao headed in Luka Modric’s free-kick.
Karim Benzema was not left out of the goal scoring party as his shot deflected in off Joe Gomez, he then added a fifth after more brilliant work by Lukas Modric. Liverpool have pulled off spectacular comebacks before, but it would be truly extraordinary if they turned this one around at the Bernabeu.
Liverpool made the start of their dreams as they rattled Real with their high-tempo. Anfield was reduced to near silence by the end as Jurgen Klopp’s side were reduced to chasing shadows in the face of Real’s imperious style and lethal threat in front of goal.
They will now hope to score four goals and not allow Ancelotti’s men to score any in Spain. But Carlo Ancelotti is too experienced to allow any complacency but he will know this is a truly outstanding result for any side to achieve at Anfield, even the Champions League holders.