Real Madrid came from two goals down to defeat Liverpool in a thrilling 5-2 victory in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League round of 16 clash at Anfield stadium on Tuesday.

It was the first meeting between the teams since the final of the UEFA Champions League last year in France. Real Madrid emerged winners with a 1-0 victory courtesy of Vinicius Junior’s second-half goal that gave them the 14th UEFA Champions league title.

Both sides had fitness issues before the match, with Real Madrid traveling without midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni and Toni Kroos, while Liverpool had to deal with some of their injury problems. Manager Jurgen Klopp had expected a better game from his side which he said was in the best time and form to face Real Madrid and get a victory.

When the game started, Liverpool looked like they could get a victory against Real Madrid, and standing newness flicked home after just three minutes into the match. Mohammed Salah made it 2-0 in the 14th minute.

It could have been all Liverpool from their own, but Vinicius Junior’s 21st-minute goal set the tone for a comeback. He leveled the score with nine minutes to the break.

The rest of the team took it from there as Eder Militao gave Real Madrid the lead for the first time in the game immediately after the break.

From there on, it was all Real Madrid, as Karim Benzema made a brace of his own to take the tie further away from Liverpool.

However, Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti does not believe that the game is over and expects that his side will do much more in the second leg at Santiago Bernabeu.

“This is only the first part of a knockout tie, it’s gone our way, but we’ll need to imagine that in the second leg, we’ll have to suffer and work hard,” Ancelotti said after the game. 

Daniel Ademiju Idowu