The UEFA Champions League never fails to deliver some heart-racing football action for the fans — especially in the Round of 16. This was exactly the case on Tuesday as Liverpool hosted defending champions Real Madrid at Anfield in the first leg of their matchup.
Liverpool looked like they were going to cruise to victory after scoring two early goals in the first half. All of a sudden, Real put their foot on the gas. The hosts did not know what hit them as they watched a determined Madrid side score goal after goal in what turned out to be a blowout match.
Liverpool was already up 2-0 after just 14 minutes of action. Vini Jr. almost single-handedly brought his team back to life by scoring two goals in the first half. The tie was already leveled in the 36th minute thanks to Vini Jr.'s brace.
Real kept it going after the break, and they scored three more goals in the opening 22 minutes of the second half courtesy of Eder Militao and a Karim Benzema double. At that point, the visitors were already up 5-2. For their part, Liverpool had officially suffered a monumental collapse at that point.
The mean streets of Twitter were shocked by these developments and they made sure to let their feelings known about this mind-blowing match:
Real Madrid really said pic.twitter.com/f1n8bQijOn
— Aaron West (@oeste) February 21, 2023
Liverpool 1-0 Real Madrid (4')
Liverpool 2-0 Real Madrid (14')
Liverpool 2-1 Real Madrid (21')
Liverpool 2-2 Real Madrid (36')
Liverpool 2-3 Real Madrid (47')
Liverpool 2-4 Real Madrid (54’) pic.twitter.com/GRRafNrpF1— Xavi (@XaviSol_) February 21, 2023
Hey @LFC, there’s a match going on and you’re involved in it. Not sure if you know.
— Zito (@_Zeets) February 21, 2023
Well done Liverpool for making me miss having the channel that shows live Champions League games over here, for probably the first time since I stopped paying for it. Little bit sad I'm missing this absolute trainwreck 😂😂😂.
— Richard Cohen (@RichardCohen1) February 21, 2023
Liverpool looked like themselves again for 20 mins and since have looked like the disorganized mess that have looked like all season.
Truly the year from hell
— Kyle Lowry Apologist (@gnavas103) February 21, 2023
I'm no soccer expert, to be sure, but I know enough to realize that Liverpool hasn't been that great this year.
A Real downer, you might say…
— Matt Zemek (@MattZemek) February 21, 2023
This may be the new low point for Liverpool's season. Up 2-0 at Anfield, now down 5-2. Just brutal.
— Shahan Ahmed (@shahanLA) February 21, 2023
Real Madrid making Liverpool look like Elche.
— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) February 21, 2023
There's much more where that came from, but you get the gist. Needless to say, Liverpool will be ruing this defeat in the days to come, and perhaps even in the coming months.
The good news for Liverpool is that there's still a second leg coming up on March 14th. Although, you have to say that it's going to be tough for them to come back from this one at the Bernabeu.