A Horrible Night At Anfield As Liverpool Suffer A 5-2 Defeat Against Real Madrid In The Last-16 UCL First-Leg Clash.

It was a horrible night at Anfield, as Real Madrid staged a remarkable comeback to overturn a 2-0 deficit courtesy of braces from Vinicius Junior, and Karim Benzema and a goal from Militão on Tuesday night.

Liverpool had lost three of their last four meetings with Real Madrid, including two UEFA Champions League finals and had only revenge on their minds going into the round of 16 first leg clash in front of their own crowd. 

The Reds made a high tempo start to the encounter, and their approach to the game reaped rewards in the 4th minute when Darwin Núñez's back-heeled goal from Salah's assist opened the scoring on the night.  

Ten minutes later, the Egyptian extended the home side lead to 2-0 when he pounced on a poor control by Courtois. 

The tie seemed like an uphill struggle after just a quarter of an hour, but the reigning champions held their nerve and reduced the home side's lead with a terrific finish from Vini Jr. in the 21st minute.

The Brazilian then netted the equaliser in the 36th minute, having collected the ball on the edge of the box and rifled it through the narrowest of gaps between three Liverpool defenders and past Alisson into the far corner, as the first-half ended in a 2-2 draw.

The second half couldn't have got off to a better start with Real Madrid turning the game on its head from a set-piece just three minutes into the new half. A free-kick from Modrić was flicked on and Militão powered home a header to hand the visitors the lead for the first time.

You could have thought that a dramatic night at Anfield was over yet, but Madrid went on to increase their lead seven minutes later. Rodrygo linked up with Benzema, and the Frenchman's shot flew in after hitting Gomez. 

Carlo Ancelotti's men carried on pushing forward and got their fifth goal when Modrić broke on the counter-attack, Vini Jr. continued and Benzema crowned it with a cut-back and superb left-footed finish.

The European and World champions were able to hold on to their lead which is a huge advantage for the second leg that will be played at the Bernabeu on Wednesday, 15 March.

Speaking after the game, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp gave a breakdown of why his team suffered that heavy defeat at Anfield.

“The second goal was slapstick. The first goal we have to defend better, there are enough players around. It is just a world-class moment from Vinicius as well but obviously, we can defend better.

“Half-time was rather positive, we have to play in this and that spaces, and then we start with a third goal which is a horrible goal and pretty much the game-changer. We lost the momentum in that moment and never got it back.

“In the second half, the game was the game Real Madrid wanted to play.

"The third goal, it was a horrible goal, but today it was a game-changer.

"We lost the momentum in that moment and never got it back."

"The other goals, one is deflected and they are not really well defended. We lose the ball at the wrong moment which is a problem for Real Madrid with the counter-attacking threat they have,” Klopp said.

On the other hand, Real Madrid manager, reflected on how his side came from behind to turn the game around;

“We were very efficient in front of goal when we managed to break out from their pressure.

“We improved our defensive game because in the first half we suffered a lot of pressure from Liverpool.

“Their players up front were very dangerous. Our players were very accurate,” Ancelotti said.