When Courtois saw Mohamed Salah running towards him, he decided to use his right foot instead of the left for the clearance. He accidentally hit the ball with his right knee and unintentionally played the perfect pass to Salah. The Egyptian had no trouble scoring the next goal for Liverpool FC.
Thibaut Courtois did a lot of things right. He’d chested a challenging back pass from right-back Daniel Carvajal and was about to flick the ball forward with his left foot. Then the Real Madrid Belgian goalkeeper started thinking. That was not a good idea.
Darwin Nunez with a hoe in the fourth minute, Salah after Courtois’ slapstick insert: Liverpool got off to a brilliant start in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 at Anfield Road. “The beginning was outstanding,” said Jürgen Klopp, the Reds coach. “That was our core, that’s how we want to play.” After less than a quarter of an hour, his team was 2-0 up, but what happened next will go down in Real’s history as another magical European Cup night.
That’s crazy.
Real defender Antonio Rüdiger on the course of the game
Catching up has always been a particular specialty of this club. In the past, however, the Bernabeu was mostly the place where they were performed. On Tuesday evening, however, Real swept over Anfield, the otherwise feared home of Liverpool FC.
“Anfield is actually, especially on Champions League nights, a place where Liverpool destroy their opponents’ dreams, not the other way around,” wrote the Daily Mail after the game. Despite leading 2-0, the Reds were beaten 5-2 by the white beast from Spain. “It’s crazy,” said Antonio Rüdiger, Real’s German central defender, at Dazn.
Vinicius Junior scored two goals before the break to make it 2-2, and in the second he also benefited from a dramatic mistake by the goalkeeper. Alisson Becker shot Real’s striker in a liberating shot, and the ball sailed from his shin in a high arc into the goal.
Liverpool don’t want to capitulate just yet
“Vinicius Junior showed an incredible performance today,” said Real coach Carlo Ancelotti about the 22-year-old Brazilian, who was at least indirectly involved in two of the three goals in the second half. Before Eder Militao headed the ball straight after the break, he got the free kick that Luca Modric hit into the penalty area from the left. And he started the last of the two goals scored by his strike partner Karim Benzema with a clever pass. “It’s unbelievable to have such players,” enthused Antonio Rüdiger.
The home team gave Real an evening full of “humiliation and horror”, as the tabloid “Sun” wrote. For the first time in its history, Liverpool FC have conceded more than three goals in a European home game.
For Klopp’s team, the horror and humiliation just don’t want to end. The Reds have already been eliminated from the two national cup competitions, in the Premier League they are eighth, 19 points behind leaders Arsenal.
The Champions League is the only way to win another title this season. To be correct, since Tuesday evening one would have to say: was – even if there is a second leg in Madrid on March 15th. “It’s going to be difficult,” said Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool’s centre-back, about the chances of reaching the quarter-finals after all, “that’s for sure.” (tsp)
To home page
