Real Madrid overcame a nightmare start to achieve a memorable victory tonight thanks to a monumental second half on a day that could not have started worse for the Whites, with the death of Amancio, their honorary president. Liverpool will need little less than a sports miracle to turn it around on March 15 at the Bernabeu.
Everything that a football match can offer happened at Anfield, with a beginning in which Liverpool devoured Madrid with a Moh Salah who in twenty minutes destroyed them as perhaps only whites have done in times modern Leo Messi. The Egyptian seemed to complete his awaited revenge since Sergio Ramos injured him in Kiev in the 2018 final. In the third minute and after a play, he gave an assist to Darwin Núñez, which the Uruguayan resolved brilliantly with a heel shot.
To make matters worse, Madrid received another goal right away. Carvajal gave a late pass to Courtois, who controlled the ball badly, which went a meter forward, just where Salah was, who took advantage of the gift. The goal was a real karius and left Madrid in just fourteen minutes with the elimination reflected on his face. For Liverpool it was a kind of divine justice because the Belgian goalkeeper had embittered the final in Paris a few months ago with a monumental performance.
It happens that Madrid in the Champions League to eliminate them you have to beat them several times and the more deadly they have, the less you have to trust. Liverpool knows it very well. But like so many other times, despite knowing the disease, he did not find the medicine. Madrid overcame little by little with more effort than football, balanced the game in midfield and went on the attack with Vinícius, who was as irrepressible for the "reds" as Salah was for the whites.
Apart from the noise that accompanies him in the League, the first part of Vinícius was enormous. In minute 21 and surrounded by opponents, he pulled a whiplash out of his hat that surpassed Alisson's stretch. A little later, he repeated almost the same shot, but this time the goalkeeper guessed his intention and prevented the goal.
Turned the game into a give and take in each area, Madrid had a hard time when the ball reached the vicinity of Courtois, where it was a man for himself and clearances on the fly.
But in such a messy scenario, anything could happen, including the return of Alisson's favor to Madrid. The Brazilian sought to return a loan from Joe Gomez and his pass crashed the ball into Vinícius and slipped into his goal. Two karius in the same match between two of the best goalkeepers in the world.
If the beginning of the first half was discouraging for Madrid, the same was true for Liverpool in the second. In the first minute, Jose Gomez fouled Vinícius on the side of the area. Ancelotti's notebook worked. Modric took the free kick and Militão, without a mark on him, something incomprehensible because he is the best header in Madrid, hit a header that left Alisson stunned.
Liverpool's misfortunes were not going to end there. Madrid liked each other at that time and began to play near the rival area. In minute 55 in a combination between Rodrygo and Benzema in which it was checked if the Brazilian was offside Benzema, until then missing in action, hit a shot that didn't seem very dangerous, but was poisoned when Joe Gomez deflected the ball and mislead Allison, the 2-4.
Soon came 2-5, in which Benzema seated Alisson and finished off with three defenders in the goal. Again, another double from Benzema. Crazy if you think that Madrid had been more dead than alive before the quarter of an hour.
Liverpool tried to make up the result in the last quarter of an hour, but Madrid defended with solvency and did not go through any more trouble. It was the best possible tribute to Amancio.
