On the eve of the club’s arrival in England this week, Real Madrid’s young France midfielder Eduardo Camavinga talked about the spirit that infuses the champions of Europe. He talked about how La Remontada, or the comeback, is part of Real Madrid lore. ‘People think Madrid are dead,’ Camavinga said, ‘but Madrid are never, never dead..’
He was talking partly about last season when Carlo Ancelotti’s side conjured a series of epic recoveries on their way to the Champions League final against Liverpool. Two goals down with half an hour to go against PSG in the round of 16, they were 10 minutes away from elimination against Chelsea in the last eight too. They were two behind against Manchester City in the semi-final after 89 minutes and won.
Last night at Anfield, Liverpool started the first leg of this second round tie so brightly, so irresistibly and so fiercely that when they went two goals up inside 14 minutes, all thoughts that Madrid might rally disappeared. Anfield is a place where comebacks are visited on other teams, not Liverpool. Anfield, especially on European nights, is a place where Liverpool crush the dreams of opponents, not the other way round. Camavinga’s warnings drifted away towards the River Mersey in the night air.
Liverpool were magnificent in the opening 20 minutes. It was as if the travails of the rest of this season had never happened. It was as if conceding three goals to Brentford, Brighton and Wolves since the turn of the year had never happened. They were a team reborn. Their new signings Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo were superb. Madrid looked hopeless. Nunez scored a brilliantly bold opener and a hapless mistake by Thibault Courtois gifted Mo Salah a second.
That goal took him past Steven Gerrard as the club’s all-time leading goalscorer in Europe with 42 strikes and it felt in those heady moments as if this was going to be one of the great Anfield nights. Even though they were all second legs, thoughts of the famous quarter final against Saint-Etienne in 1977, the ‘ghost goal’ against Chelsea in 2005 and that magical evening against Barcelona in 2019 came flooding back
But Madrid are never, never dead. In fact, this comeback was relatively routine compared to some of last season’s. Vinicius Jr, who had scored the winner in the final last season, tormented Liverpool down their right side and brought his team back into the match with a brilliant first goal. ‘That gave us wind beneath our wings,’ Courtois said after the match. The Brazilian, who was man of the match by a distance, equalised before half time after a dreadful mistake by Alisson.
After the break, Madrid were simply in a different class. They taught Liverpool a lesson. They humbled them. They played the ball around them and picked them off at will. They made Klopp’s team look callow. They overwhelmed them with their quality and their class. Luka Modric ran the show in midfield. Vinicius tortured Liverpool. Benzema glided through the gears. They have won this competition 14 times. After last night, they will be favourites to make it 15 in Istanbul at the beginning of June.
Liverpool may be in recovery but they are a long way from being back to their best. This was a 5-2 humbling for Jurgen Klopp’s side and the idea they might stage a comeback of their own in the second leg at the Estadio Bernabeu three weeks from now feels like a forlorn hope. They might as well be out of Europe. What remains for them this season is to try to salvage a place in this competition next season by finishing in the Premier League top four.
Liverpool have now lost six of their last seven matches against Madrid – they drew the other – and a bad taste still lingers from the most recent of those defeats, their 1-0 loss in last season Champions League final at the Stade de France, where the feeling of resentment stems from the treatment of Liverpool’s fans at the hands of Uefa and the French authorities on an evening that could quite easily have turned to tragedy. ‘**** Uefa,’ the home crowd sang over and over again last night.
Liverpool started like furies. They tore into Madrid from the opening whistle. When Andrew Robertson dispossessed Modric, Jordan Henderson celebrated as if Liverpool had just scored. After three minutes, they did score. Henderson spread the ball wide to the right to Salah and his cross into the box was met by an extravagant flick from Nunez which wrong-footed Courtois and nestled in the back of the net.
The smell of cordite filled the air, either from a firework or the heat of Liverpool’s ignition. Ten minutes later, they were nearly two ahead.. Cody Gakpo, a player suddenly bursting with confidence, took the ball brilliantly on the half-turn and shrugged off the attention of Eduardo Camavinga before moving the ball to Salah. Salah ran at the Madrid defence, jinked through them and poked a shot just wide.
Two minutes after that, Liverpool did double their lead. Under pressure from Gakpo, Dani Carvajal hit a long, high backpass to Courtois. Courtois took it down on his chest but as Salah closed him down, the Real goalkeeper took his eye off the ball and it bounced off his knee and into the path of the Egypt striker who slotted it back past him into the net to claim the record.
Midway through the half, Madrid finally got a foothold in the game. Vinicius Jr and Karim Benzema exchanged passes amid a crowd of players on the edge of the Liverpool box and Vinicius Jr found enough space to arrow a fierce shot across Alisson and into the far corner of the net. It was a brilliant, searing strike. Anfield fell quiet.
The match was helter-skelter. Two more minutes passed and Liverpool came desperately close to adding a third. Alexander-Arnold picked out a brilliant run from Henderson and when he cut it back from the goalline, mayhem ensued in the Madrid box. Salah tried to backheel it into the net and when it broke loose, Nunez attempted to smash it over the line only for Carvajal to come to his team’s rescue with a block tackle on the line.
Alisson produced a stunning diving save to keep out another stinging effort from Vincius Jr but then ten minutes before half time, the Liverpool goalkeeper handed the visitors an equaliser. The Liverpool fans had been booing Courtois mercilessly every time the ball had been played back to him but when Joe Gomez played the ball back to Alisson, Alisson tried to pass it to safety and the ball cannoned off the right shin of Vinicius Jr and bounced high into the net.
The second half started like the first. With no time to take a breath. Two minutes into it, Madrid were ahead. Gomez was adjudged to have fouled Vinicius Jr just outside the box on the Liverpool goalline. Modric drilled the ball into the area, Eder Militao peeled away from his marker and steered a bullet header past Alisson from point-blank range. It was too easy, too simple. It was another example of the poor defending that has cost Liverpool so dearly so often this season.
Soon, Madrid were further ahead. They were playing with swagger and style now, making Liverpool chase shadows. The visitors worked the ball into the box cleverly from a corner, Benzema and Vinicius exchanged passes and when Benzema slid a weak left foot shot goalwards, Alisson had it covered comfortably until it took a cruel deflection off Gomez and bounced apologetically into the net.
Midway through the half, Benzema added a fifth. One loose touch from Fabinho in midfield was all it took. Modric was on it in a flash and stole it away. He played the ball to Vinicius Jr, who played inside to Benzema. Benzema feinted to shoot and sat Alisson down on the turf, then he took it past him and stroked a left foot shot around the defenders massing on the line. It was the final flourish of a Madrid masterclass.
SOURCE: dailymail.co.uk
