VINTAGE REAL TOO HOT FOR KLOPP’S REDS
LIVERPOOL were ripped apart by twogoal Vinicius Junior as Real Madrid showed their Champions League pedigree to the full in last night’s 3-1 win.
The Spanish champions took control of the quarter-final tie after a confident first-leg performance in an entertaining game, lit up by Vinicius Junior.
The 20-year-old Brazilian scored either side of Marco Asensio’s strike while Mohamed Salah replied for the out-of-sorts Reds after the break.
For Jurgen Klopp, his side now have much to do to stay in the competition and his team selection at the Estadio de Alfredo di Stefano will rightly be questioned. By the time he rectified it, bringing on Thiago Alcantara for Naby Keita three minutes before half-time, it was too little, too late.
Real were without regular centre-backs Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane and were forced to field a makeshift back four at their reserve-team ground in Zinedine Zidane’s 50th Champions League match as a manager.
And they led in route-one fashion on 27 minutes. The sublime Toni Kroos played a long pass from his own half that picked out Vinicius Junior and he chested the ball past Nat Phillips before firing the opener beyond Alisson.
Asensio doubled the lead nine minutes later, profiting from a misdirected Trent Alexander-Arnold header to drill home, leaving Liverpool much to do.
But they came out firing after the break and reduced the deficit thanks to Salah’s 27th goal of the season. Diogo Jota’s ball was deflected into his path and Salah fired home via goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and the crossbar.
But Vinicius Junior had the final say, sweeping home Luka Modric’s 65th-minute ball to give Klopp a headache for next Wednesday’s return leg.