CC™ Sports
By Tom Gott
Liverpool fell to their heaviest European home defeat on Tuesday as they were mauled 5-2 by Real Madrid at Anfield in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie.
Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah both scored early on to put Liverpool 2-0 up in a first half which was defined by goalkeeper errors, but Real fired back and doubles from Vinicius Junior and Karim Benzema, with an Eder Militao header sandwiched in between, sealed a famous comeback for Los Blancos.
A high-intensity press from Liverpool forced a handful of errors from Real in the opening seconds and Cody Gakpo could have easily done better with a half-chance that came from one of those mistakes.
It didn't matter, however, as Nunez flicked Liverpool ahead after just three minutes, running onto Salah's cross and flexing his confidence with an audacious touch to convert past Thibaut Courtois.
Salah then struck wide ten minutes later, before Courtois handed him an absolute gift. The Belgian got his feet all wrong in possession and kneed the ball right to Salah, who could not miss.
There was nothing fortunate about Vinicius' strike soon after. The Brazilian cut inside and curled a glorious strike into the bottom corner of Alisson's net, giving Real a much-needed boost after a chaotic start to the game.
Vinicius equalized just after the half-hour mark, and this time, it was a howler from Alisson, who passed the ball right at his international teammate and could only watch on as the ricochet bounced into the back of his net.
Two minutes into the second half, Real's comeback was complete as Militao powered home a header from a Luka Modric free-kick. About as simple as they come.
Benzema was wheeling away in celebration soon after as his strike took a cruel deflection off Joe Gomez and left Alisson on his backside as it trickled into the net.
Real Madrid began to take control of proceedings and dominated possession, and they grabbed a fifth goal as Benzema sat Alisson down and picked his spot beyond three defenders into an unguarded net.
That fifth strike appeared to knock the stuffing out of proceedings, and while neither side slowed down, you could feel a sense of acceptance from both teams as Liverpool's focus switched to preserving their already-hurt reputation.
Indeed, there were just the seven goals for fans to enjoy on one of the most famous nights in the Champions League's recent history.
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