Real Madrid overcame Liverpool in the Round of 16 first leg on Tuesday in England by an astounding score of 5-2 after falling down early.
Hosts Darwin Nunez, a Uruguayan attacker for the Reds, beat Thibaut Courtois of Real Madrid with a backheel in the area to give Liverpool the lead early on at Anfield.
In the 14th minute, Liverpool’s Egyptian star Mohamed Salah extended the deficit by taking advantage of Courtois’ grave error.
The Belgian goalkeeper Courtois had time to clear the ball, but he chose not to. To complete, Salah struck the errant ball.
Vinicius Junior, a Brazilian forward for Real Madrid, was in the box when he fired a right-footed effort past Alisson Becker of Liverpool in the 21st minute to make it 1-2.
Austrian left-back David Alaba had to leave the game because of an injury. Nacho took his place.
As Alisson attempted to pass to one of his teammates in the 36th minute, Vinicius made it 2-2 when the ball deflected off the Brazilian forward and into Liverpool’s goal.
Visitors Eder Militao of Brazil, a defender, scored a close-range header for Real Madrid to make it 3-2 early in the second half.
French forward Karim Benzema of the Spanish team scored in the box in the 55th minute to give the Whites a 4-2 victory over Liverpool.
The Spanish powerhouse, however, persisted. In the 67th minute, Real Madrid scored their fifth goal on a swift counterattack.
To find Vinicius, the Madrid team’s attack was launched by Croatian midfielder Luka Modric. Three Liverpool players were in front of Benzema as he went by Alisson to make a calm finish after receiving a feed from Vinicius, bringing the score to 5-2.
In the away game, Real Madrid overcame a 2-0 deficit to defeat Liverpool 5-2.
Vinicius was awarded the Player of the Match, according to UEFA.
Real Madrid player Karim Benzema claimed they started “a little poorly” but turned the tide later in a post-game interview.
“We anticipated pressure from the Anfield supporters, but after the opening 15 minutes, we witnessed the actual Real Madrid. Football is challenging at this level. They got off to a faster start than we did, but we were prepared for a tough game “He expressed his gratitude to the Real Madrid supporters.
In the second leg, “we’ll need them (the Real Madrid supporters) again, and we’ll need to play a terrific match in the Bernabeu,” he continued.
Liverpool gave up five goals in a single European competition game for the first time since 1966. Prior to that, Liverpool were destroyed 5-1 by Dutch team Ajax in a European Cup match that year.
Joyous Real Madrid made their way back home with a commanding lead and assurance.
But, in the second leg, which will take place on March 15 at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, Jurgen Klopp’s team will look for a miracle.
A moment of silence was observed for the victims of the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey prior to the game’s start at Anfield.
Meanwhile, in another first-leg Champions League round of 16 match, Italian team Napoli defeated German team Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0.
The Naples club’s goals came from Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Victor Osimhen.
The 15th of March will see Eintracht Frankfurt travel to Napoli in Italy.