EKO HOT BLOG looks into the fixture between European giants, Real Madrid and Liverpool at Anfield as the Reds were humiliated on home ground in a 2-5 defeat in front of a full capacity of Reds fans.
Liverpool vs. Real Madrid has seen the fixture become something of a joke recently, specifically under the reigns of Jurgen Klopp’s management at Liverpool.
Four games have gone by in recent times without a win against Real Madrid for the Liverpool boss. It has all accounted 3 losses for Jurgen Klopp and a draw in 2021 at Anfield, the last time both sides faced in a knock out stage.
It was by all means, expected that the Merseyside team will at least put up a display that rewrites the 1-0 defeat in the Champions League final months ago. It was a grudge match, like the pundits say.
Liverpool were gradually returning to form, after skimming past a reformed Everton side that came from the back of winning Premier League leaders, Arsenal, and a consecutive win against a Newcastle side that had not lost a home game this season.
Hence, pundits, punters and football analysts were sure that Jurgen Klopp will go in deep to make corrections in the rematch at Anfield, and at the very least avoid a defeat to the Los Blancos at Anfield.
The world may have been tempted to believe such narratives. Liverpool started with quite the flare, hitting past Real Madrid twice through goals from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah to open the score sheet.
Liverpool were back, viewers and fans of Liverpool would have dreamt at the half hour, but then Real Madrid set the world back to reality. This Liverpool; Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool can and will never beat them as far as they were concerned.
The Los Blancos had nothing to worry about, they only needed goal keeping and defensive errors to gift Vinicius Jr. whom received quite the praise from Jurgen Klopp ahead of the fixture to net a brace to level things up before half-time.
It wasn’t expected, based on how the Reds had started, but since it was Real Madrid, it was never impossible, but what the football world did not expect was what became a humbling in the second half when Madrid defender, Eder Militao opened the scoring to put Real ahead.
The game wouldn’t have been complete had Real Madrid star man, Karim Benzema not had a word to Liverpool. He had 2 words for the Reds on the night, giving Liverpool its worst European defeat at Anfield.
Anfield was in tears, the fans were leaving in droves as the humiliation became too much to bear.
Of course, in front of the media, the team and the Liverpool manager held firm on their believe of turning the tide over at the Santiago Bernabeu, but we know better, don’t we?
If Liverpool are going to turn the tide around, it is not this game, but perhaps another game they might play in Europe some other time; a time we aren’t exactly sure of judging how the club is going at the moment.
The 2-5 humiliation to Real Madrid now raises questions over Jurgen Klopp and his Liverpool side. Real Madrid has remained the one boogey team Klopp’s Liverpool have never been able to overcome. This defeat makes it a 4th in 5 games that they have lost to the same opponents without gaining a win.
Is it a mental block over Real Madrid that Jurgen Klopp has? Is Jurgen Klopp more predictable than he will care to imagine? What story does Klopp feed his team to constantly have them committing errors upon errors in defense to lead to constant defeats from one side without even putting up a challenge?
Most importantly, is this the end of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool? Or should this be the end of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool?
The second leg at Santiago Bernabeu will be an interesting one to watch, but it is safe to say that the fear Jurgen Klopp has towards Real Madrid will end up a deciding factor overall.
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