Liverpool were dismantled by Real Madrid on Tuesday despite taking an early two-goal lead in front of their own fans at Anfield.
Liverpool endured one of their most painful European nights in recent memory on Tuesday as they were thrashed at home by Real Madrid despite taking an early two-goal lead. The Reds crumbled as their Spanish opponents responded on five occasions to claim the spoils at Anfield and put one foot in the Champions League quarter-finals ahead of next month’s second-leg clash at the Bernabeu.
It remains to be seen whether Liverpool will be able to pull off a remarkable comeback in Madrid, although stranger things have happened and they will be determined to avoid giving up the chase as long as there remains a slim possibility of reaching the last eight. They were some way off their best on Tuesday night, though, as Real Madrid ran riot by scoring five past Alisson Becker after goals from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah put Liverpool into a quick-fire lead.It was certainly not the first time that Liverpool had been left embarrassed after a one-sided defeat, though, as Express Sport takes a look at four other damaging losses suffered by the Reds over the years…
Stoke City 6-1 Liverpool (2015)
Steven Gerrard was forced to endure the worst possible end to his Liverpool career back in 2015 as the Reds were dismantled by Stoke City in the midfielder’s final game for his boyhood club. He managed to get on the scoresheet in the 70th minute but the damage was already done, with a brace from Mame Biram Diouf and goals from Jonathan Walters and Charlie Adam firing Stoke into a healthy advantage before the break.Peter Crouch then added a fifth for Stoke with four minutes remaining to wrap up a memorable victory for the Potters and condemn Liverpool to a hugely surprising defeat on the Premier League’s final day. The result saw the Reds end up in sixth place on 62 points and gave Gerrard a painful send-off as he waved goodbye to the club he loves under embarrassing circumstances.
Man City 5-0 Liverpool (2017)
Manchester City gave Liverpool another day to forget in the Premier League when they thrashed the Merseyside giants by scoring five goals without reply in a match that is best remembered for a bloody collision between Sadio Mane and Ederson. The latter was left with a huge gash on his face after he was kicked by the Liverpool winger, who was shown a controversial straight red card as a result of the incident.City went on to make their extra man count in some style to inflict Jurgen Klopp’s then-joint-heaviest defeat as a manager, with the other being a 6-1 thumping at the hands of Werder Bremen during his time in charge of Mainz. City would go on to wrap up the Premier League title at a canter with an end-of-season tally of 100 points, while Liverpool were ultimately forced to settle for a fourth-placed finish.
Coventry City 5-1 Liverpool (1992)
Liverpool were dismantled by Coventry City in the Premier League’s inaugural season in a result that came as a major surprise given the impressive winning run they had been looking to extend before kick-off at Highfield Road. They were instead left red-faced as Coventry dominated proceedings after Brian Borrows opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the first half, with two quick-fire goals after the interval giving the Sky Blues a healthy lead.Jamie Redknapp pulled one back with a free-kick shortly afterwards but was sent off just minutes later before lifelong Liverpool fan Mick Quinn scored a late brace to put the icing on the cake for the hosts. The result marked Liverpool’s heaviest defeat since 1976 on their way to a sixth-placed finish in the final Premier League table behind the likes of Queens Park Rangers, Blackburn Rovers and Norwich City.
Aston Villa 7-2 Liverpool (2020)
An empty Villa Park played host to what was arguably Liverpool’s worst game in recent memory back in 2020 when they were hit for seven in another embarrassing result that almost nobody saw coming. The Reds were the reigning Premier League champions at the time and were facing a side who had only escaped relegation on the final day of the previous season, but it looked the other way around for large parts of the contest.Villa went two goals up early on but when Salah halved the deficit as half-time approached it seemed as though Liverpool would go on to pull off another famous comeback to claim all three points. The total opposite happened, though, as the hosts turned on the style to score on five more occasions and condemn Liverpool to a harrowing loss after winning the league title with seven games to spare just a matter of months earlier.
SOURCE: express.co.uk
