One way or another, it always ends with Madrid for Liverpool. Four of their last five Champions League campaigns have finished against Real, Atletico, Real and Real. In the year they didn’t face a club from the Spanish capital, they won the competition.
So, in the most unpredictable of seasons for Liverpool, this was the most predictable of exits. Not merely because Vinicius Junior is becoming Trent Alexander-Arnold’s tormentor or because Karim Benzema maintained his status as Liverpool’s nemesis with his statutory goal against them or because in the least vindictive of ways, Carlo Ancelotti continues to exact his amiable brand of revenge for Istanbul. But, primarily, because Real Madrid won 5-2 at Anfield. A 1-0 triumph in Spain took the overall score to 6-2, Liverpool’s biggest aggregate defeat in Europe since they faced Spartak Moscow three decades ago.
