Soccer

Benzema and Vini Jr. lift Real Madrid overrun Liverpool

Benzema and Vini Jr. lift Real Madrid overrun Liverpool

Karim Benzema and Vinicius Jr’s two goals pushed Real Madrid to demolish the struggling Liverpool to create panic to Coach Jurgen Klopp.

The rerun of last year’s Champions League finals went horrible at the Anfield as Liverpool suffered huge setbacks despite early two goals lead with Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah. Vinicius Jr started the comeback at the 21st minute to score the first goal for the reigning Laliga Champion, he followed it fifteen minutes later at the 36th minute of the match to equalize and provide the visiting side the spark plug to start the rampage for their round of 16 first leg with a huge advantage. 

Los Blancos are the first team in the UEFA Champions League history to have a comeback win from two goals down and went on to clinch victory by a three-goal margin. Meanwhile, Liverpool conceded five goals in a European game at Anfield for the first the first time and also the first time for Jurgen Klopp to shipped 5 goals in a home game across all competitions, after Mainz in 2006, Borussia Dortmund in 2009, and Liverpool in 2019.

Match Highlights

Darwin Nunez started the first leg of the Last 16 Champions League match against their European rival Real Madrid with an audacious backheel flick to fly past Courtois into the back of the net. Thanks to a low cross assist into the middle from Mohamed Salah. 10 minutes later, Salah scored to provide an early double lead for the home side. This is also a moment to forget for Courtois. Carvajal cuts off Gakpo’s run down the left and knocks it back to the keeper. Courtois takes the right tempo, but it bounces off to his knee as Salah is immediately on the right spot to fire it past into the back of the net. 

However, the FIFA Club World Cup Champion did not let this game slip, as Vinicius Jr pulled one back. It’s a lovely sequence from the Brazil International as he dismantled Fabinho’s defense before playing a one-two combination with Benzema and he cuts inside the box before whipping a great shot past Allison to cut the lead to one. Vinicius scored his second goal. Gomez attempts to play one-two with Alisson as he intercepts the pass to Vinicus, but the Brazil striker closes down the attempted pass of Alisson and loops straight into the empty net to tie the game and end the first 45 minutes with the momentum on the visiting side. 

In the second half, Luka Modric and Vinicius Jr provided impressive defense to cost Gomez a clumsy challenge. Modric whips a free kick from outside the box on the left and Militrao did a header from the edge of the six yard box to stump the crowd and a lead for Madrid, 3-2! Karim Benzema scored his first goal of the match to double the lead over the host. Rodrygo touches it into Benzema, who gets it out of his feet before poking a shot on goal. The ball goes to Gomez’s thigh which completely misfooting Alisson as it hits the net. 

Karim Benzema scores his double to join Vinicius Jr. Madrid breaks quickly on the counter and Liverpool just run out of gas to cope with it. Modric bundles to Vinicius, and slides it to Van Dijk’s leg to Benzema. Alisson faces another nightmare as he rushes out, but Benzema just toys with the keeper before firing his shot past three Liverpool defenders to make it 5-2 for Madrid. 

Review

The final leg will be difficult for the struggling Liverpool, They showed a lot of flaws in their games, failing to overcome and maintain their postures. However, if Klopp and his squad is willing to take risks and well-motivated to have a comeback from a three-point deficit aggregation, this will rank among the best comebacks in European football.

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