Goals: Liverpool – Real Madrid – Played on February 21, 2023
Real Madrid overturned its 2-0 deficit against Liverpool, to a valuable 5-2 victory, at “Anfield” on Tuesday evening, in the first leg of the Champions League final.
Liverpool advanced with the goals of Darwin Nunez (sq. 4) and Mohamed Salah (sq. 14), but Real Madrid quickly rose up and scored five, signed by Vinicius Junior (sq. 21 and 36), Eder Militao (sq. 47), Karim Benzema (sq. 55 and 67).
The return match between the two teams will be held at the “Santiago Bernabeu” stadium, on March 15th.
Liverpool started the match, attacking fiercely, and scored an early goal in the 4th minute, when Salah crossed the ball in front of the goal, followed by Nunez with a beautiful artistic movement with the heel of the foot, into the net of the Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
Liverpool came close to scoring the second goal in the 12th minute, when Dutch striker Cody Jacobo received the ball, before passing it to Salah, who stormed the penalty area and hit a ball crawling away from the goal.
And Courtois committed a fatal mistake in the 14th minute when he was late in dealing with the ball returning to him, so he lost his balance, so that Salah took advantage of the lapse, and added the second goal for the owners of the land.
And soon, Real Madrid managed to reduce the difference in the 21st minute, when Karim Benzema passed the ball to Vinicius, who got rid of Fabinho, the Liverpool midfielder, before shooting at the far post to score.
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson got the ball from the right, to pass inside the penalty area to Salah, who tried to shoot despite the harassment of defender Rudiger, to reach Nunez, who in turn tried to follow it into the net, but Real Madrid defender Milito removed it from the goal line in the 25th minute.
The injury forced Real Madrid player David Alaba to leave the field, to replace Nacho Fernandez, and a corner kick made a dent in the Liverpool penalty area, and the ball reached Vinicius, who shot with his right foot next to the far post in the 31st minute.
In the manner of Courtois, Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker naively dealt with the ball, dispersing it without focus, and it hit Vinicius’ foot, before continuing its way into the home team’s goal in the 36th minute.
The referee awarded a free kick in favor of Liverpool, which was executed by Trent Alexander-Arnold over the human wall, to be caught by Courtois, who in turn sent the ball to Vinicius, who quickly kicked it on the left side, before passing in front of the goal towards his compatriot Rodrigo, but Liverpool back Andy Robertson pushed the ball away in time. .
Real Madrid managed to advance the score in the 47th minute, when Croatian Luka Modric executed a free kick from the left, which Militao followed uncontrollably, powerfully into the net.
Liverpool barely awoke from the shock of the third goal, until it conceded the fourth goal in the 55th minute, when Benzema exchanged the ball elegantly with Rodrigo before he hit a low ball, which changed direction with the foot of defender Joe Gomez, and deceived goalkeeper Alisson.
Rudiger fired a long-range shot that passed by the post in the 63rd minute before Liverpool made a double substitution, through which Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino entered the place of Nunez and Jakopo.
Liverpool midfielder Stefan Paisetic tried his luck with a long-range shot that passed by the goal in the 65th minute, and two minutes later, Real Madrid returned with a counterattack, so Vinicius launched the ball before passing to Benzema, who dodged the goalkeeper before shooting into the net, adding the 5th goal.
Liverpool seemed to surrender somewhat after the 5th goal, despite the entry of James Milner and Joel Matip in place of Henderson and Gomez.
Dani Ceballos participated in the Real Madrid squad instead of Rodrigo, then Benzema and Modric left the stadium amid the applause of the away fans, to be replaced by Marco Asensio and Toni Kroos in the last 4 minutes.
