Time to wrap up our coverage of an extraordinary night at Anfield. Thanks for your company and emails – goodnight.
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Jordan Henderson’s reaction
Very difficult. It’s hard to sum it up straight after the game – mixed feelings, frustration with the result, but for large parts of the first half, definitely, I thought we performed well. Probably unlucky to go in at half-time level. We made too many mistakes around the goals especially, and when you do that a team like Madrid punish you. They punished us every time tonight.
We didn’t help ourselves. The set-piece – which I didn’t think was a foul to be honest – we didn’t defend well enough, and the game went away from us at the point. [Is it worrying how many goals you’re conceding?] The last two games we keep clean sheets, didn’t we? It’s hard to come here and speak because… we caused ourselves problems at times. It’s a tough one to take.
We played a good first half. There was a big chance at 2-0 [it was at 2-1], a bit of a scuffle on the line; if that goes in it’s a big moment in the match. The second leg is a few weeks away, so we’ve got to move on quickly – we’ve got games in the Premier League that we need to concentrate on, and cross this bridge when we come to it.
David Hytner’s match report from Anfield
Full time: Eintracht Frankfurt 0-2 Napoli
”Naples calling,” writes Colum Fordham. “While Liverpool plumb the depths after promising so much, Napoli are continuing to live up to their promise. A brilliant backheel from Kvaratskhelia freed up Di Lorenzo to slot home with a great left-footed shot to make it 2-0 against Eintracht.
“The excitement here is palpable with Serie A held by the scruff of the neck. And Champions League not out of bounds.
Just hope Liverpool can play a dgnified match in Madrid and focus on the league.”
How do you begin to make sense of that? Liverpool started at 100mph and took a deserved 2-0 lead through Darwin Nunez and Mo Salah. But Real didn’t flinch, and Vinicius Jr’s brilliant first goal changed the mood. He scored again in freakish circumstances after a dreadful mistake from Alisson, and then Real took Liverpool apart in the second half.
Eder Militao headed them ahead in the 47th minute before Karim Benzema scored twice: the first with the aid of a big deflection off Joe Gomez, the second after he swaggered round Alisson in a manner thay symbolised Real’s second-half performance.
Full time: Liverpool 2-5 Real Madrid
The end of a unique game. Real Madrid recovered from 2-0 down to humiliate Liverpool on a barely believable night at Anfield.
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90+3 min Harvey Elliott is booked for a foul on Nacho.
90+2 min “Carlo Ancelotti might be in for three weeks of recurring nightmares before the second leg,” says Justin Kavanagh. “Three goals up against a deflated Liverpool at half-time… he’s been here before.”
90+1 min Three minutes of added time.
90 min More olés from the Real fans; maybe they know a sixth goals is coming. They’ll certainly celebrate well tonight.
89 min “Pedantic I know,” says Paul McKnight, “but I’d argue Real’s 3-0 win was a heavier defeat for L’pool than 5-2 due to the away goals rule at the time.”
I think that was a group game. I know what you mean, although generally heavy defeats are separated by goals scored. Let’s just call it a bad one and leave it at that.
88 min “With regards to your question as to whether Liverpool can afford a midfield overhaul, it’s more of a case that they can’t afford not to,” says Stephen Carr. “Klopp would leave if he didn’t get one. He knows we got it wrong last summer in not getting anyone in. The heart of this team is at the end of its cycle and without a new midfield, it’s finished as a whole.”
87 min: Real Madrid substitution Marco Asensio and Toni Kroos replace Karim Benzema and Luka Modric.
85 min: Liverpool substitution Harvey Elliott replaces Stefan Bajcetic, who had an increasingly difficult night trying to stop the bleeding in midfield.
84 min Nacho appeals unsuccessfully for a penalty/free-kick right on the edge of the area after a push from Alexander-Arnold. The referee isn’t interested, nor VAR.
81 min “‘Bit early for the Real fans to be olé-ing with 25 minutes to go, even if they are 4-2 up,’ I thought,” says Anthony Speet. “Turns out they knew it was exactly the right time, just before the coup de grace.”
80 min: Real substitution Dani Ceballos replaces Rodrygo, who looks like he has cramp. That means Fede Valverde will move to the right wing.
77 min I can’t believe I’m saying this, but if Liverpool can make this 5-3 they won’t be totally out of the tie. Real almost blew a two-goal first-leg lead at home to Chelsea last year, after all. Then again, they didn’t actually blow it, so I’m not sure what my point is.
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76 min “G’day Rob!” says Russell Yong. “Figured a word or two of praise was due for the way Real have built this team. The three Brazilians, Vini, Rodrygo and Eder, two Frenchmen Tchouameni and Camavinga, and the Uruguayan Valverde, all signed at great expense, remarkable gambles on players so young, yet all have paid off or will likely pay off immensely.”
Yes, this is an excellent point. It’s a fascinating change of direction, buying the next generation of stars rather than finished products. And it’s working – Vinicius, in particular, looks like a future Ballon d’Or winner to me. All hail the galactiembryos.
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73 min: Double substitution for Liverpool Joel Matip and James Milner replace Joe Gomez, who played pretty well in the first half but has had a seriously tough time since the break, and Jordan Henderson.
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72 min This could get worse, you know. Liverpool, understandably, look like they’re in the slough of despond.
70 min This is currently Liverpool’s heaviest European defeat at Anfield, beating the 3-0 loss against, yep, Real Madrid in 2014-15.
70 min Alexander-Arnold’s outswinging corner is headed straight at Courtois by Firmino. That was half a chance.
69 min How to finish, with Karim.
THAT IS SILKY! 🤯
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 21, 2023
Karim Benzema is the coolest man on the planet 🥶
What a goal! 💥#UCL pic.twitter.com/FFLHjcpMxU
Karim Benzema has walked the ball into the net! Fabinho’s heavy touch allowed Modric to nick the ball 20 yards inside his own half. He surged away from Bajcetic on the halfway line and suddenly Real had a three-on-two break. Modric played a typical through ball to Vinicius, who drew the last defender Van Dijk and then slipped it square to Benzema on the edge of the area.
Benzema walked past the outrushing Alisson and curled the ball past the two defenders on the line with his left foot. How cool was that? His heart rate didn’t even hit the fatburn zone, never mind cardio.
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GOAL! Liverpool 2-5 Real Madrid (Benzema 67)
This is astonishing.
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66 min “I get what Matt Dony is saying, but the Liverpool of the past five years could actually defend,” says Lee Purchase. “They’ve fallen off a cliff, and they’ll be repeatedly punished this season if they continue to give up bags of chances in each game. The summer can’t come quick enough for the midfield overhaul.”
Can they afford one? That’s a serious question, I’m not trying to be a smart derriere.
65 min A classic cross from Alexander-Arnold just evades Firmino and is turned behind for a corner by Carvajal. There have been so many moodswings already that we shouldn’t rule out another.
The corner is cleared as far as Bajcetic, 30 yards out, and he curls a few yards wide. It wasn’t as close as it first looked.
64 min: Double substitution Roberto Firmino and Diogo Jota replace Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez, whose superb goal feels an age ago.
63 min Rudiger blooters well wide from distancee.
63 min Madrid keep the ball for an age before Carvajal’s cross clears Vinicius. Liverpool are there for the taking; they look shell-shocked.
62 min “Absolutely a penalty on Nunez at 3-2,” says Francis Mead. “A clear and definite shove.”
According to BT Sport, it wasn’t even checked by VAR.
60 min Vinicius Jr is booked for stopping Fabinho from taking a quick free-kick. What’s the point of that.
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59 min Rudiger goes down after an off-the-ball incident with Nunez, who is warned by the referee. Nunez didn’t do a lot wrong, just an impatient hand-off that Rudiger made the most of.
57 min “Liverpool may well end up going out,” high-fives Matt Dony. “If they do (and there’s no shame in losing to this Madrid side), then at least they’re doing it by playing like ‘Liverpool’. Not the fragile, insipid shambles they’ve been for so much of the season. Yes, I know there’s a long way to go, but there’s an awful lot of positivity in the way they’ve approached this game. Might not be a corner turned yet, but the indicators are on, they’ve moved to the filter lane, they’re approaching the apex…”
Rodrygo played a one-two-three on the edge of the area with Benzema, whod stretched to hit a tame left-footed shot that took a big deflection off Gomez and wrongfooted Alisson. Without the deflection it would have been an easy save – if it was even on target. Dear me.
There’s a VAR check for offside against Rodrygo in the build-up, but he was being played onside by… yep, poor old Joe Gomez.
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GOAL! Liverpool 2-4 Real Madrid (Benzema 55)
Joe Gomez’s night goes from vile to worse!
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53 min Alexander-Arnold whips a very dangerous, bouncing cross towards Nunez, who is about to head the ball towards goal when he gets a softish push in the back from Carvajal that knocks him off balance. Liverpool want a penalty; Istvan Kovacs disagrees and there’s no VAR check. Hmm, I’d like to see that again.
52 min Vinicius Jr beats Alexander-Arnold again – that’s becoming a painful mismatch – and wins a corner off Henderson. Real take it short and faff around for a bit until Modric overhits a cross that goes behind for a goalkick.
49 min Gomez gives the ball away with a lazy pass and then flattens Vinicius with a trailing arm. Vinicius made the most of it. As Gomez’s pass was intercepted, you could hear an exceedingly audible shout of “Forking wake up! Wake up!” It sounded like a Mackem accent, so it could have been anyone.
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47 min That was an odd goal because, although the six-yard box was crowded, Militao had a fair bit of space when he scored. I’d like to see it again to see who should have been marking him, if anyone.
Half an hour ago, Real Madrid were 2-0 down and the definitive shambles. Now they’re ahead! Modric smashed the free-kick into a crowded six-yard box, where Militao ran onto the ball and powered a header past Alisson. That time Alisson had no chance.
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GOAL! Liverpool 2-3 Real Madrid (Militao 47)
Yep.
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46 min Vinicius Jr roasts Alexander-Arnold and is fouled just outside the area on the left by an overzealous Gomez.
46 min Jordan Henderson gets the second half under way.
“First half very much like my university career,” says Niall Mullen. “Started out promisingly before ending in a disappointing 2:2.”
“Meanwhile in Frankfurt…” writes Alexandre Chesneau. “Nothing as exciting has happened, but Kvaradona (it’s easier to type than his actual name !) missed a penalty for Napoli before Osimhen scored two goals in two minutes, the second of them being ruled out by VAR. Half time: Frankfurt 0-1 Napoli. Just thought you might want to know since I doubt you have the time to check!”
No offence to anything or anyone, but please can Napoli win absolutely everything this season.
Half-time reading
“I need a drink EOM,” says Joe Pearson.
Half time: Liverpool 2-2 Real Madrid
A sheer delightful first half. Liverpool raced into a 2-0 lead through Darwin Nunez and Mo Salah, who benefitted from Thibaut Courtois’ absurd howler. But in this competition Real Madrid’s second home is the precipice, and they fought back in familiar and thrilling style. Vinicius Jr scored a cracking goal and then benefitted from another goalkeeping howler, this time by Alisson.
45+1 min: Great defending from Robertson! Courtois flings the ball 60 yards to Valverde on the left wing, and he releases Vinicius in the area. Vinicius slides a devastating ball across the face of the goal, and Rodrygo is about to score from six yards when Robertson wraps his leg round to poke the ball behind for a corner. From start to finish, that was outstanding football.
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45 min Alexander-Arnold’s free-kick is well struck but straight at Courtois. And then…
44 min Bajcetic’s pass hits Modric, who is harshly penalised for handball. Free-kick to Liverpool, 30 yards from goal, and Trent Alexander-Arnold is over it…
44 min Liverpool continue to probe, trying to ignore the part of their collective subconscious that is playing the music from Jwas. This game/tie is still there for the taking, for both teams.
42 min And here’s Vinicius Jr’s second goal.
WHAT A FIRST HALF THIS HAS BEEN 🤯
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 21, 2023
It's Alisson who has now made the mistake for Vinícius Júnior to pounce! #UCL pic.twitter.com/4H1tnBKy2z
41 min Nothing has happened for about four minutes.
39 min “REAL MADRID!!!!” says Jeff Sax. “To beat them, you have to shoot them!!”
Like the man said: always put one in the braaaaain…
(NB: clip contains scenes of claret and violence)
38 min What the actual.
I cannot believe this. Gomez did well to cut out a through ball towards Vinicius and play it back to Alisson. Vinicius pressed Alisson, whose slightly lazy return pass hit the calf of Vinicius and bounced up in the air. For a split-second time stood still, as everyone in Anfield wondered whether it would bounce wide of or into the net. The ripple told the story.
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GOAL! Liverpool 2-2 Real Madrid (Vinicius Jr 36)
Alisson sees Thibaut Courtois’ howler and equals it!
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35 min The pace of the game is unrelenting, and both teams look like they will create something every time they attack.
34 min “Come on then, what’s your novel like?” says Shane O’Leary. “Wide, sweeping, cinematic vistas of crisp, punchy, yet achingly witty prose? William Gibson, early Brookmyer or the new *Terry Venables? Why do I keep seeing Baldrick reading his opus about a sausage? Either way, I think we should be told.”
* He very nearly ran me over at Selhurst Park
You want to talk about this now?
32 min: Chance for Valverde! This is a really good spell for Real. Modric feeds a sharp pass into Rodrygo in the D. He cushions it behind his standing leg towards the onrushing Valverde, who splatters a first-time shot over the bar. That was a pretty good chance, especially given Valverde’s goalscoring form this season.
31 min: Brilliant save by Alisson! The corner flashes across the area and reaches Vinicius on the left side of the area. He takes a touch and whips an early shot towards the far corner, very similar to his goal, but this time Alisson gets down very smartly to push it away. That was a superb shot because a) Vinicius took the shot early and b) Alisson must have seen it late.
30 min Vinicius’s dangerous cross – he’s been superb – is taken off Carvajal’s head by the diligent Nunez. Corner to Real Madrid…
29 min Here’s Vinicius Jr’s cracking goal, which has brought Real back into the tie.
WHAT A GOAL THAT IS! 🙌
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 21, 2023
Vinícius Júnior with a whip around the Alisson ✨
What a game we have here 💥#UCL pic.twitter.com/7wXE9j2ppk
28 min “All those chances Liverpool had in the Champions League final,” says Niall Mullen, “and no-one thought to simply put their heel through it.”
He sent that at 1-0, but I’ve only just had chance to read it. There’s been a bit happening, okay.
27 min: Real substitution David Alaba was injured during that Liverpool attack, and Nacho has come on to replace him.
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25 min: How did that stay out?! An almighty scramble in the Real six-yard box ends with Eder Militao booting the ball clear. Salah had two shots blocked, then Nunez’s follow-up was blocked by a combination of Militao and another Real defender. There was a check for a penalty, in case it hit Militao’s hand as he crouched to block. I don’t think it did, and more importantly nor does Mr VAR.
24 min This is glorious entertainment! Real break four on three, maybe four on four, but Vinicius’s pass towards Valverde is crucially cut out by Gomez. His positioning was really good there.
22 min I mean, this isn’t entirely without precedent.
It’s another memorable goal. Vinicius shuffled infield from the left, lend the ball to Benzema for a couple of seconds and then, despite being surrounded by Liverpool defenders, made just enough room to hammer a curling shot that beat the diving Alisson and nestled in the far corner. That was a helluva strike.
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GOAL! Liverpool 2-1 Real Madrid (Vinicius Jr 21)
And that’s why they didn’t panic.
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20 min Madrid have been here before, and they don’t look remotely flustered – at least not when they are in possession.
18 min Madrid continue to look dangerous at both ends. Carvajal’s clear, cushioned header releases Rodrygo in the area, but his low cross is behind Benzema.
17 min I mean, where do you start.
ANFIELD ERUPTS AGAIN! 📢
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 21, 2023
Mo Salah pounces on a huge error from Thibaut Courtois 🇪🇬#UCL pic.twitter.com/zhMGQhSK9K
16 min That’s Salah 44th Champions League goal for Liverpool, which breaks Steven Gerrard’s club record. What a night this is turning into for Liverpool.
Thibaut Courtois, the man of the match in last year’s final, has had a shocker. He controlled a bouncing backpass from Carvajal and then shaped to play it clear to one of his defenders. As he did so he inadvertently kneed the ball straight to Salah, who had pressed Courtois just in case. Salah couldn’t believe his luck and flicked it gleefully into the net from eight yards.
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GOAL! Liverpool 2-0 Real Madrid (Salah 14)
And now Mo Salah has scored!
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13 min Salah had done the hard part by beating Alaba and Camavinga. But Jurgen Klopp will be pleased because he looks really sharp.
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13 min: Chance for Salah! Liverpool break thrillingly, with Gakpo losing Camavinga in midfield and finding Salah on the right. He uses the overlapping Alexander-Arnold by not using him, slaloms between Alaba and Camavinga just inside the area… and then drags a tame shot wide of the near post.
12 min: Chance for Real! This is great stuff. Gomez dithers on the edge of his own area and loses the ball. Benzema lays it square to Rodrygo, whose fierce first-time shot is superbly blocked by the stretching Van Dijk.
11 min Carvajal finds Rodrygo in a little bit of space, just inside the area, but a slightly heavy touch allows Robertson to clear.
10 min “Tonight it’s your commentary, with a cyber-punk audiobook in the earbuds and...” begins Shane O’Leary, knowing full well how much that will wind me up. “While I like the insolent insouciance of Ancelotti, I still love the ‘jumpers for goalposts’ vibe exuded by Der Kloppster, so the pocket money is on red. Hoping that Gakpo has a good one, crazy name, great link player!”
9 min Fabinho is offensively fortunate to avoid a yellow card for a tactical foul on Vinicius Jr.
9 min Here’s Darwin Nunez’s brilliant opening goal. He’s going to be a player.
LIVERPOOL HAVE LIFT-OFF! 💥
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 21, 2023
That is just cheeky from Darwin Núñez! 👏#UCL pic.twitter.com/spapaQcfbZ
8 min I think Camavinga might have fouled Fabinho, but the contact was outside the area so it wouldn’t have been a penalty anyway.
7 min Real are rattled. Liverpool appeal for a penalty when Fabinho goes over in the area, but the referee isn’t interested.
6 min We’ve seen Nunez try that flick behind the standing leg a few times, most notably on his league debut at Fulham, when he was credited with a goal that I think should have been an own-goal. This time he well and truly nailed it.
Bajcetic and Henderson combined to find Salah in space on the right wing. He moved infield and angled a beautiful pass towards Nunez, who timed his run perfectly behind Eder Militao. Nunez met the ball six yards out, flicking it daintily past his standing leg, and it whistled past Courtois. All that was missing was a jaunty little heel-click.
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GOAL! Liverpool 1-0 Real Madrid (Nunez 4)
Darwin Nunez puts Liverpool ahead with an ingenious goal!
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3 min Vinicius’s cross towards Benzema is comfortably claimed by Alisson. It’s been a really fast start.
2 min Gakpo robs Camavinga 25 yards from goal. Henderson feeds the loose ball back towards Gakpo, who glides into the area… and then slips over. That was a great chance. Rudiger was coming across, but that meant Gakpo would have been able to play a simple square pass to the unmarked Salah had he stayed on his feet.
1 min No tactical surprises on either side: it’s 4-3-3 v 4-3-3.
1 min Peep peep! Luka Modric, 37, gets the tie of the round under way.
“Followed the chart link with giddy excitement, thinking back to those halcyon days as a 17 year old, grooving to Dirty Cash,” says John Potter. “Disappointed is an understatement on finding the song was I Love You (The Postman Song)! Not one I remember. Damn you Stevie V.”
It’s the kind of mistake David Brent would have made in the (not real) quiz. Dirty Cash, a song I remember with equal fondness, was spring/summer 1990. In fact, this is a belter of a top 20. Solitary, brother.
A reminder of the teams, who are about to walk into a belting Anfield atmosphere
Liverpool (4-3-3) Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Bajcetic; Salah, Gakpo, Nunez.
Substitutes: Adrian, Kelleher, Milner, Keita, Firmino, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jones, Elliott, Jota, Tsimikas, Carvalho, Matip.
Real Madrid (4-3-3) Courtois; Carvajal, Eder Militao, Rudiger, Alaba; Valverde, Camavinga, Modric; Rodrygo, Benzema, Vinicius Jr.
Substitutes: Lunin, Vallejo, Nacho, Hazard, Kroos, Asensio, Odriozola, Lucas Vasquez, Dani Ceballos, Mario Martin, Arribas, Alvaro.
Referee Istvan Kovacs (Romania)
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“The remarkable Will Still (subject of a nice Guardian piece a few weeks ago) is a studio analyst on Belgian TV tonight,” says Edward Ricketts. “Beggars belief that he is just 30!”
Doesn’t it just. It’s such a brilliant story, and he seems admirably down to earth.
“Great interview by the good Doctor Sid with Camavinga,” says Ruth Purdue. “I hope he plays as excellently as he did in the World Cup final. He is technically superb. I just hope he doesn’t get booked in this one. It could be feisty and he tends to always get booked.”
It was overshadowed by the chaos and the phallic goalkeeping, but I thought he was absurdly good when he came on in the final. Strolled on at left-back, not even his best position, and didn’t put a foot wrong.
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“Benzema is the best forward in the world, that is Real’s secret,” says Jeff Sax. “And his absence at the World Cup is why France lost.”
As if the final wasn’t exciting enough, imagine if he had played.
Jurgen Klopp speaks
The mood is very good – we’re excited about the opportunity… That’s how you should feel before a Champions League game… The results and the some of the things we saw [in the last two games] gave us the feeling [we are playing better].
What would be the best-case scenario? We smash them 8-0 or something. That’s pretty unlikely. This game is 180 minutes, and the more you can get from the first half, the better it is, and if you get nothing from the first half then you have to turn it round in the second half.
I don’t see it as a test [for Stefan Bajcetic]], I see it as an opportunity for him as well. I didn’t even speak to him about it. Everything looks natural and I don’t think it makes sense to start having one-to-one talks with him before a Real Madrid game.
If I was a player I’d be nervous after that, because I would think ‘the boss thinks I’m not ready for it’. I think he’s ready for it, which is why he starts, and if he’s not it’s my fault so he cannot lose. There was no reason to change, but I am also really happy with the options we have on the bench because they will be important.
“Hi Rob,” says Peter Oh. “It’s too soon to call Stefan Bajcetic Stevie B, isn’t it?”
It is if you remember the UK top 40 in March 1991.
“Last year’s CL was so strange: Real Madrid won the whole thing while playing about 10 minutes of football a game, while Liverpool lost it by switching off for 10 seconds in the final, having played every minute of football possible in a season,” asys Justin Kavanagh. “So is ‘Ancelotti time’ a new concept in football, like ‘Fergie time’, except that, like in a horror movie, you just don’t know when it’s going to happen?”
Let’s at least call it ‘Carlo time’ so we can sing it like MC Hammer. You have to be careful with recency bias – this is the best aside I have written in my entire career – but I’m struggling to think of a European Cup-winning campaign with as rich a combination of drama and escapology. It’s almost enough to make you believe in fate.
A big night for 18-year-old Stefan Bajcetic 🌟
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) February 21, 2023
He becomes the youngest player in Champions League history to start a game for Liverpool 📈#UCL pic.twitter.com/454hEgEUfE
Liverpool v Real Madrid: the modern age
Players who will miss the second leg if they are booked tonight
Trent Alexander-Arnold
That’s it
Do you like scary movies?
Liverpool team news: Nunez starts
Darwin Nunez is fit to play, which is a big boost for Liverpool, and one that allows Jurgen Klopp to name an unchanged side for the first in a while. The teenager Stefan Bajcetic, one of the catalysts of Liverpool’s mini revival, makes his full Champions League debut.
Liverpool (4-3-3) Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Henderson, Fabinho, Bajcetic; Salah, Gakpo, Nunez.
Substitutes: Adrian, Kelleher, Milner, Keita, Firmino, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jones, Elliott, Jota, Tsimikas, Carvalho, Matip.
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Few football writers in the world, if any, produce as many good interviews as Sid Lowe. This sitdown with the extraordinary Eduardo Camavinga is another cracker.
Real Madrid team news
Madrid have announced their team a bit early. Carlo Ancelotti makes two changes from Real’s win at Osasuna at the weekend. Karim Benzema is back after being rested in Pamplona, which means Fede Valverde moves into midfield and Dani Ceballos is left out. Another Dani C, Carvajal to be precise, replaces Nacho at right-back.
The bench includes Toni Kroos, who was supposed to be absent through illness but was added to the squad this afternoon.
Real Madrid (4-3-3) Courtois; Carvajal, Eder Militao, Rudiger, Alaba; Valverde, Camavinga, Modric; Rodrygo, Benzema, Vinicius Jr.
Substitutes: Lunin, Vallejo, Nacho, Hazard, Kroos, Asensio, Odriozola, Lucas Vasquez, Dani Ceballos, Mario Martin, Arribas, Alvaro.
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Preamble
Here’s one we wrote earlier, for today’s Football Daily email.
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You can sum up Jürgen Klopp’s Big Cup story at Liverpool in one word. It’s not “heavy”, or “metal”; it’s not even “heavy-metal” when it’s used as an adjective. It’s “Madrid”. Liverpool beat Spurs at the Estadio Metropolitano, aka the House of Simeone, in 2019 to win their sixth title. In the other four seasons, from 2018-22, they were eliminated by Madrid’s finest: Real three times, including two finals, and Atlético in a just-before-Covid night that gets weirder with every recall. So it was no great surprise when Liverpool, who had a one-in-four chance of drawing Real Madrid in the last 16, drew Real Madrid in the last 16.
The bad news for Liverpool is that Madrid have been – please tell us there’s an award for naffest portmanteau – their Klopptonite in this competition. Also, having signed Eduardo Camavinga, Aurélien Tchouaméni and probably Jude Bellingham, Real are the reason Liverpool’s heavy-metal midfield has been frozen in time. The good news for Liverpool is that you’re only as good as your next Madrid tie. Truth is, with a fair wind and a goalkeeper swap or two, Liverpool could have won the 2018 and 2022 finals, so the teams are closer than a post-Dossena scoreline of Real 11-2 Liverpool might suggest.
“I didn’t watch [the 2022 final] back until this weekend and the thing I realised immediately was … why I hadn’t,” sighed Klopp, symbolically frisbeeing the match DVD out of the nearest open window. “It was proper torture because we played a good game and could have won – and that’s the decisive word because we could but didn’t, because they scored and we didn’t. We saw how experienced Madrid is and how little they are fussed by the fact the other team has chances … What held us back a little was the fact it was a final and we did not take enough risks in little moments. We were not adventurous enough.”
One man who will never lack adventure is the sometimes harrowingly intrepid Darwin Núñez, and Liverpool are hopeful he will recover from shoulder-knack to play some part at Anfield on Tuesday night. “So,” continued Klopp, “somebody told me – and I don’t even know if it was true – that Carlo [Ancelotti] said after the final, that [with] Liverpool it’s cool because they knew exactly what they will face.” Not anymore. Núñez – and Football Daily says this with love, having defended him since day one and misses three and four – is about as predictable as the afterlife. But even in a season when he has been incessantly ridiculed, Núñez has 11 goals and four assists in 28 games – 10 of which were substitute appearances.
Núñez’s presence – not to mention the absence of Tchouaméni, Toni Kroos and indeed Casemiro in the Madrid midfield – is among the reasons Liverpool hope that this time, more than any other, they’ll find a way to beat a team from Madrid. But Real have one or two or 14 reasons for optimism themselves. And if they put Klopp out of Big Cup again, they might even get to keep him.
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