Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have now faced Real Madrid five times in recent years, yet they remain winless from their clashes with the La Liga giants.
Losing four, a 0-0 draw behind closed doors (when already 3-1 down on aggregate) is the best result they have to show for their efforts. Losing two Champions League finals amongst that quintet, the Reds’ 5-2 schooling at Anfield on Tuesday night was the latest wound inflicted by the Spaniards.
At least their two goals saw them double their goals tally against Madrid under their German manager, though 12 goals conceded tells its own story.
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Since Klopp’s men first faced Real Madrid in the Champions League final back in 2018, Liverpool have won the lot. But while they have been crowned champions of England, Europe, and the world in the interim, every honour has been a one-time success.
On the verge of an unprecedented quadruple nine months ago, Real Madrid’s latest Champions League final win over the Reds left them celebrating just a domestic cup double. Now their 5-2 victory has signalled the end of an era at Anfield, with it even more clear that Liverpool boast an ageing squad past its best and are stuck in transition.
Reds bosses have started to address such matters, of course. Over the past 12 months they have revamped Klopp’s attack, while they plan to overhaul Liverpool’s midfield in the summer. Yet this latest embarrassing loss to Madrid highlights how their defence is also bleeding.
Yet, if we’re being honest, the Reds aren’t the only side in transition this season. In truth, their Spanish conquerors are too.
For their first four meetings with Liverpool, the Real Madrid midfield was unchanged. Be it Kiev, Madrid, Anfield, or Paris, on each occasion Luka Modric, Casemiro, and Toni Kroos patrolled the engine-room. On each occasion, they ruled the roost.
But on Tuesday night, the Croatian was the only one of that famous trio starting, with the German on the bench after overcoming illness and the Brazilian now a Manchester United player having left in a deal worth up to £70m last summer.
Granted, Modric still oozed class on Tuesday night and was unplayable as the game wore on. It was his free-kick that set up Eder Militao for Madrid’s third goal, while he rolled back the years to sprint away from Fabinho and Stefan Bajcetic with ease to play a vital role in creating Benzema’s second and Madrid’s fifth. Yet it still remains to be seen if the Spaniards will offer the 37-year-old a new contract as they continue to look to the future.
The 33-year-old Kroos is also out of contract this summer, while Madrid didn’t need much persuading to sell a 30-year-old Casemiro when United offered £70m as they moved to stop their midfield growing old together.
Not for the first time, they had no room for sentimentality as they made a ruthless decision regarding an often ageing player. The exits of high-profile club legends Marcelo, Sergio Ramos, Raphael Varane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe, Iker Casillas, Angel Di Maria, and Xabi Alonso over the past decade prove exactly that.
But Real Madrid’s midfield trio had remained the same throughout this period, having also started the Spaniards’ 2016 and 2017 Champions League final wins over Atletico Madrid and Juventus before their Liverpool double-header of 2018 and 2022. It is only now time has caught up on them.
In contrast, Klopp has named a different midfield trio for each encounter with Real Madrid, including the two quarter-final meetings behind closed doors in 2020/21.
James Milner and Gini Wijnaldum were selected either side of Jordan Henderson in Kiev, before Naby Keita and Fabinho accompanied the Dutchman for the Reds’ 3-1 loss in Madrid in April 2021. Thiago Alcantara would replace the Guinean before half-time, however, while Liverpool’s veteran vice-captain would start in his place for the 0-0 draw back at Anfield.
In Paris, Klopp unleashed his 'first-choice' trio of Henderson, Fabinho, and Thiago without any reward, while Stefan Bajcetic’s emergence made it five midfields from five at Anfield on Tuesday night as the Spaniard lined up in place of his injured compatriot.
Yet whatever the combination, the Reds have always fallen short with their efforts. While by no means the worst midfield performance of the club’s season, they were still not good enough and were once again left with the same sinking feeling after the final whistle, having spent yet another night chasing Modric’s shadow before his deserved standing ovation from the Anfield crowd.
Liverpool might boast 11 senior midfielders as things stand, but what they boast in quantity, they lack in quality as Real Madrid have repeatedly demonstrated. With Keita, Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Juventus loanee Arthur Melo not contracted beyond the end of the season, and Henderson, Fabinho, and Thiago all ageing, the Reds have kept players well past their sell-by dates. It’s clear their desired revamp is very much needed.
Beyond that septet, Klopp can call upon Bajcetic, Harvey Elliott, Fabio Carvalho, and Curtis Jones. Yet they remain talented potential on the cusp of more with the quartet aged 18, 19, 20, and 22 respectively. Meanwhile, while the former is enjoying an impressive breakthrough season, doubts remain about the latter trio’s long-term positions and roles at Anfield.
Despite so many options, Liverpool lack substance behind it all. With most also boasting injury problems, there is very little for the Reds to build their future around. As a result, they will need to bring in at least two, if not three, senior midfielders in the summer as links with the likes of Jude Bellingham, Matheus Nunes, and Mason Mount continue.
How different things could have been had Liverpool been successful in their efforts to sign Aurelien Tchouameni last summer. Alas, they were informed he only had eyes for Real Madrid as he left Monaco in an £85m deal. How ironic that he wasn’t even fit to travel to Merseyside to inflict this humbling on the Reds.
While Modric might have played a starring role against Liverpool, he was accompanied by two new midfield partners as in Eduardo Camavinga and Federico Valverde as Kroos watched on from the bench.
Throw in the 23-year-old Tchouameni and Real Madrid have already built their midfield of the future, alongside his 20-year-old compatriot and the 24-year-old Uruguayan. But they might not be done yet as they look beyond Modric and Kroos. They still boast strong interest in Bellingham themselves, after all, while Valverde is just as comfortable playing out wide in attack as he is in the engine-room.
Casemiro was 23 when he cemented his place in Real Madrid’s midfield in 2015/16. By that point, Modric had just turned 30 and enjoyed three years at the Bernabeu. In truth, his longevity has exceeded all expectations. Meanwhile, Kroos was 25 as he entered his second season with the club.
As a trio, they would become multiple champions of Spain, Europe, and the world as they won four Champions Leagues, three La Liga titles, and three FIFA Club World Cups between 2015 and 2022. Make no mistake, all three are club legends. As a result, their midfield overhaul has been far more daunting than the one required at Anfield.
Yet Madrid have replaced them so effortlessly and may now look to beat Liverpool to the signing of Borussia Dortmund’s Bellingham in the summer. Well known to be Klopp’s first-choice target, it remains to be seen how Tuesday’s 5-2 loss and expected Champions League exit, along with current league struggles, will impact the Reds’ hopes of signing the England international.
But while he will be the poster boy of their next side if successfully signed, in all likelihood for a club-record fee, Bellingham won’t and can’t be the only new midfielder at Anfield this summer. They need multiple signings as part of a much wider squad overhaul, with this 5-2 thrashing perhaps suggesting that the engine-room shouldn’t be their only source of concern.
Now they face a crucial summer where Liverpool bosses have it all to do. Having spent the past year revamping the Reds’ attack, they have now given themselves the unenviable task of having to construct a new midfield entirely all at once.
If only they had taken a leaf out of Madrid’s book, who have seemingly found the perfect combination. Be it fetching big-money fees for ageing stars, getting the very most from those left behind, and then complimenting them with a talented midfield of the future that’s ready to contribute from the off, they have navigated their own daunting transition with ease.
After first bringing Valverde into the first team fold in 2018, they signed Camavinga in 2021 and then Tchouameni in 2022. Combined, they have cost £123.8m.
Now, they’ll hope to bring in another high-profile midfield signing for the third summer in a row as they set their sights on Bellingham. A gradual work in progress as they ease out a trio that has served them so well, their success has remained constant as a result.
Liverpool can still recover and get back to such a platform, of course, with there no reason not to believe their own talented youngsters can be ready for such lofty steps in the future. But in the interim, they have been left in limbo.
With so much riding on this planned midfield revamp, Real Madrid have shown the Reds exactly what they need to do to make it a success.
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