Liverpool in shambles as Actual Madrid run riot at Anfield in gorgeous 67 minutes demolition

Regardless of taking a two-goal lead towards Actual Madrid, Liverpool suffered their heaviest residence defeat in European historical past on Tuesday night time, with the Champions League holders coming from behind to win 5-2 at Anfield.

No away group had ever scored greater than three targets in a European recreation on the well-known stadium, with Actual profitable 3-0 in October 2014, however they have been put to the sword by the Spanish giants in a ruthless second-half show.

Actual appeared overawed and panicked within the opening exchanges of the last-16, first-leg conflict, conceding two early targets, however regained their composure to web 5 unanswered targets on a disastrous night time for Liverpool and their Champions League hopes.

On a usually charged European night time below the lights at Anfield, the Reds made an electrical begin to the match, placing Actual below stress with ferocious urgent and lightning-fast assaults.

Their efforts have been rewarded inside the first 4 minutes with a incredible objective; Mohamed Salah slipped in Darwin Nunez, and the Uruguayan produced an audacious flick that fooled Thibaut Courtois and enthralled the house crowd.

Vinicius Junior confirmed flashes of intent down the left wing, however Actual’s superstars appeared barely rattled by their opponents’ power and verve, with a slaloming run from Cody Gakpo organising Salah, who shanked his effort broad of the close to put up.

He made no mistake a couple of moments later, when Courtois spectacularly failed to regulate a back-pass and the ball bobbled off his knee and into the trail of Salah, who had the best of duties: faucet into an unmanned web.

Liverpool have been wanting slick and harmful on the counter, however Actual’s run to the ultimate final season was outlined by their never-say-die perspective, and that tenacity was on show once more within the twenty first minute when hazard man Vinicius darted infield and fired a robust effort into the far nook.

The Merseysiders got here near restoring their two-goal lead after a goal-line scramble, however Actual have been beginning to purr on the different finish; Alisson made an important save to disclaim Vinicius a repeat of his earlier objective, earlier than Federico Valverde blazed over after a pointy transfer.

In a frantic, engrossing match that alternated between the chic and the ridiculous, it appeared becoming that Actual ought to tie issues up with one other blunder as Alisson booted a clearance straight into Vinicius after which watched in disbelief because the ball looped up and over him into an empty web.

Actual seemed nearly sure to take the lead on the stroke of halftime when Valverde launched Vinicius, who performed an important cross in direction of the far put up for Rodrygo, however Andy Robertson produced a shocking last-ditch deal with to forestall the objective simply because the Brazilian was about to faucet the ball in.

However Actual Madrid solely needed to wait a couple of minutes after the restart to take the lead for the primary time; Vinicius was bundled over on the sting of the field by Joe Gomez, and Luka Modric’s free-kick was powerfully headed into the web from shut vary by an unmarked Eder Militao.

Liverpool had misplaced a lot of their early swagger and depth by this level, falling two targets behind within the fifty fifth minute. On the sting of the field, Karim Benzema and Rodrygo exchanged passes earlier than the Frenchman’s moderately tame shot took an unlucky deflection off Gomez and bobbled down the center of the objective, with Alisson already dedicated to his dive.

Jurgen Klopp appeared surprised within the dugout, and his group’s implosion was exacerbated 12 minutes later by an impressive objective from the guests.

Actual had a three-versus-two scenario when Modric stormed by means of the center of the pitch, leaving Liverpool’s midfielders in his wake; the Croatian fed Vinicius, who squared for Benzema, and the Frenchman sat Alisson down earlier than calmly guiding the ball into the highest nook regardless of a wall of retreating Liverpool defenders on the road.

In actuality, Liverpool did little to attempt to cut back the deficit after that and struggled to click on, with the power sucked out of Anfield, whereas Actual appeared content material to take a seat on their snug lead.

The result’s solely the third time on this century that Liverpool has conceded 5 targets at residence, and it leaves the Merseysiders needing one other Champions League miracle – this time on the Bernabeu in three weeks – to advance to the competitors’s quarter-finals.