Real Madrid overdelivered on all expectations in their away trip to Anfield in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16. With Liverpool going 2-0 up within the first 15 minutes, through goals from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah, many people had already started questioning whether Los Blancos were going to be knocked from the competition at the hands of the Reds.
They were looking defensively vulnerable every time Liverpool went on the attack and for a good while, Jurgen Klopp’s side were the much better team. A moment of individual brilliance from Vinicius Junior got Real Madrid back in the game almost out of nowhere though. And by the end of the night, they walked out of Anfield with a 5-2 victory.
Vinicius and Karim Benzema scored a brace each, while Eder Militao also got on the scoresheet. It was a result not even the most optimistic Real Madrid would have seen coming.
Thierry Henry was full of praise for Real Madrid after the game, describing them as a ‘big team’, while talking about the difference between them and Liverpool. As reported by Liverpool World, the Arsenal legend told CBS Sports:
"“They conceded too many goals against Brentford, Wolves and Brighton – let alone before you play a team like Real Madrid. I wanted to know where they were and I saw a fragile team.“More than fragile! Why? They were 2-0 up. That’s exactly the start you would like to have against a Madrid team or any team in Europe at Anfield and they couldn’t even keep that.“Yes, Alisson made a mistake but they didn’t bail him out. Thibaut Courtois makes a mistake – that’s a big team, they bailed him out.”"
Henry makes sensational claim about Real Madrid after 5-2 win vs Liverpool
It is safe to say that this is a special Real Madrid team. They just don’t know the meaning of the word ‘quit’.
Most other teams, who were 2-0 down at Anfield after 15 minutes, would go into damage control. But not Real Madrid. Instead, they turned the game completely around on its head and scored five goals themselves, at one of the most difficult away grounds in world football.
Hopefully, this performance will be a big confidence boost for Real Madrid and they will continue performing like this for the rest of the campaign. There are a lot of big games coming up for them.