Liverpool 2 Real Madrid 0: Mac Allister and Gakpo in huge win to stay top of Champions League table with perfect record
MO SALAH reckons he is “more out than in” at Liverpool. A bit like his penalty in front of the Kop on Wednesday night.
But while the Egyptian delivered an utterly terrible spot-kick, he was rescued by his team-mates Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo who scored to continue Liverpool’s extraordinary 100 per cent record in this competition.
But for Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham, it was a bad night. A really bad one.
Both players were booed each time they touched the ball and both will want to forget this trip to Merseyside.
Mbappe’s stinking start at Real Madrid continued with a missed penalty – well saved by Caoimhin Kelleher – shortly after Mac Allister had put Liverpool ahead.
As for Bellingham, he was overshadowed by another 21-year-old, Conor Bradley.
The England international sat in the dugout before the game to admire the view of Anfield and for all the use he was on the pitch, he may as well have stayed there.
In contrast, Liverpool right-back Bradley not only did a terrific job on Mbappe but also delivered an assist to set up Mac Allister.
Aside from the goals, the best moment of the game came in the first half with Bradley involved.
Mbappe was on a surging run towards the area but he was stopped in his tracks by an absolutely stunning, crunching, brilliantly-timed tackle by Bradley.
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Unsurprisingly, the roar from the home crowd was absolutely massive for a player making his full Champions League debut.
So this was certainly a memorable night at Anfield as Liverpool continued their stunning start to the season to finally beat the Spaniards after failing to do so in their previous eight games.
Incredibly, the reigning champions now seem to be in danger of going out of the competition altogether and their next game is away at Atalanta.
Liverpool boss Arne Slot who was taking charge of Liverpool for the 19th time against Ancelotti who, as a manager, had already faced the Merseyside giants on 19 occasions.
This is even crazier when you consider Ancelotti, who never played against Liverpool as a player, didn’t coach a team against them until he was fully 15 years into his managerial career.
Ancelotti was without some of his big-hitters. Rodrygo, Dani Carvajal, David Alaba, Eder Millitao and Aurelllien Tchouameni were all missing.
And Real had to give a Champions League debut to 21-year-old defender Raul Asencio who only played his first game for the club two weeks ago.
Asencio came close to scoring an own goal at the start when he knocked the ball towards the goal after Thibaut Courtois saved a shot from Darwin Nunez but the centre-back recovered superbly to clear the danger.
Asencio’s lively start to the game then saw him get into a grapple with Nunez and the Liverpool forward, embarrassingly, threw himself to the ground in an attempt to get his opponent sent off. French referee Francois Letexier booked both players.
Nunez was involved in all of Liverpool’s attacks and he forced a decent save from Belgian keeper Thibaut Courtois before delivering a header across the face of the goal but there was no-one at the far post to tap the ball over the line.
Liverpool had dominated possession in the first half and it was a case of them being patient, which is something Slot has drummed into this team.
Surprisingly, Bradley appeared at the other end to force a good save from Courtois although the man who delivered the killer pass – Mac Allister – grabbed the opening goal in the next attack.
Bradley was again involved, playing a one-two with Mac Allister who then got a shot beyond defender Asencio and into the corner.
The Spaniards deserved to trail as they had shown absolutely nothing going forward so they were fortunate to then receive a penalty which was incredibly soft.
Andy Robertson caught the boot of sub Lucas Vazquez and while it was not really enough to put the player down, it was never going to be overturned by VAR.
While Mbappe’s penalty was not great it was still a decent save from Kelleher who flung himself to the right.
But if that penalty was bad, Mo Salah’s was even worse.
Salah earned the spot-kick after being fouled by Ferland Mendy but inexplicably, the Egyptian spot-kick steered a spot-kick wide of the post.
But he will have breathed a sigh of relief when Robertson and Curtis Jones delivered a short-corner and the Scottish left-back crossed for Gakpo who, just eight minutes after replacing Nunez, produced a powerful header.
Now, Real Madrid are in a major pickle although we have written them off before and they have ended up winning the thing.
But even by their standards, Bellingham and Co will have to deliver something special to get Madrid out of the brown stuff.