Liverpool were humbled by the visitors Real Madrid in a 5-2 defeat for the home side in Tuesday’s Champions League Last-16 first leg clash.
MATCH PROCEEDINGS
The Reds took just a little over three minutes to take the lead with Mo Salah teeing up Darwin Nunez who produced a clever flicked finish to find the back of the net.
Salah turned goalscorer from provider with the Egyptian winger closing down Thibaut Courtois who made a major error while in control of the ball, allowing the former to score and make it 2-0 for the home side.
Real, however, mounted a fantastic comeback in the remainder of the first half as Vinicius whipped in a wonder of a finish past Alisson into the bottom corner.
Nunez was denied through a last-ditch block by Dani Carvajal while on the other end of the pitch, Alisson Becker’s attempted pass could only deflect off Vinicius into the net to ensure both teams went into the break with the score level at 2-2.
The visitors took the lead two minutes after the restart as centre-back Militao, left unmarked in the Liverpool box, heading from Luka Modric’s free-kick.
Karim Benzema’s shot took a heavy deflection off Joe Gomez and wrong footed Alisson to make it 4-2 for Real who were looking threatening as ever going forward.
Changes off the bench for Liverpool, with attackers Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota coming on, failed to turn the game back in their favour as Benzema secured a brace to condemn Liverpool to a three-goal deficit ahead of the second leg contest next month.
