Real Madrid vs. Liverpool: 3 key individual battles to watch
Real Madrid will face Liverpool in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, and the first leg will take place on Tuesday night at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano. Both teams produced clean sheet victories on Saturday, and they know how important it is to get off to a good start.
Football is more complicated than the individual matchups on the pitch, but sometimes one key matchup ends up deciding a big game. Here are three individual battles for Madridistas to keep an especially close eye on this Tuesday.
Real Madrid DM Casemiro vs. Liverpool CM Thiago
Casemiro is having another great season for Los Blancos, furthering his reputation as the best pure defensive midfielder in the world. He’s actually still second on Real in goals scored in La Liga behind striker Karim Benzema, and he added another assist this weekend by recovering the ball and quickly sending it up the pitch to Marco Asensio.
On Tuesday, Casemiro will have the tough task of going up against Thiago, who is one of the best midfielders we have seen over the past several years. You only have to refer back to last year’s final to see what Thiago is capable of in this competition.
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The battle between Thiago and Casemiro will be both a tactical chess match and one featuring tenacity. Both experienced midfielders are mentally sharp and physically strong, and either one could decide the battle for control and play a key role in snuffing out a counterattack.
Real Madrid LB Ferland Mendy vs. Liverpool RW Mohamed Salah
Ferland Mendy is probably the most underrated player on either side of the pitch in this match. The former Lyon man is one of the best defensive fullbacks on this planet, so much so that he is capable of playing center back at a high level. We saw our second example of that this weekend in the 2-0 win over Eibar.
Without Sergio Ramos, Mendy will have to step up even more to help defend against Mohamed Salah, who is one of the best “wide strikers” (as I like to refer to them) in the game. Salah is a right winger, but he plays like a striker. He goes for goal at all costs and takes up very dangerous, incisive attacking positions. And we know how much he thrives on mistakes from defenders.
Therefore, Mendy must be at the top of his game in several respects. He must be perfect in the tackle against the savvy Salah, and he must be equal to Salah’s speed and agility. But maybe most importantly, he must be secure on the ball with his passing. He cannot waste time on the ball or panic, because Salah, as RB Leipzig learned in the first leg, will quickly pounce on any errors. He has 26 goals in all competitions this season.
Real Madrid LW Vinicius Junior vs. Liverpool RB Trent Alexander-Arnold
With the form he’s been in, I fully expect Vinicius Junior to start against Liverpool. I know there’s been talk of Eden Hazard returning, but I just don’t see it happening. Hazard needs more time to recover. There are so many examples of Real rushing him too soon, and one of my least favorite was in last year’s Champions League against Manchester City. Real would have been better off starting Vini then, and they surely won’t make the same mistake now.
Vinicius had a brilliant assist for Karim Benzema against Eibar. He beat his man with a burst of acceleration, and he did not make any mistake with his next decision. Instead of overthinking things, Vini used perfect technique with his left foot to hook the ball right into the heart of the box for Benz, whose headed finish was unerring.
Next. Real Madrid vs. Liverpool: One task for each player. dark
A couple of weeks ago, Vinicius had Atalanta on strings with his high-quality dribbling and relentless energy. Trent Alexander-Arnold is a world-class right back, but he is not an elite defensive fullback. He’s just “good”. And Vini has undone a lot of “just good” right backs. Chance-creation aside, it hasn’t been a banner year for “TAA”, so Vini has an opportunity to put together a big game. This should be a fun one-on-one battle on the flanks, too.