Liverpool suffered an astonishing 5-2 defeat to Real Madrid at Anfield on Tuesday, as the world witnessed perhaps the beginning of the end of the Jurgen Klopp era as the Reds were all but officially eliminated in the Champions League round of 16.
From 2-0 up after 15 minutes, to 5-2 down just 52 minutes later, Liverpool was helpless to slow down the same Real Madrid side that beat them 1-0 in last season’s UCL final.
Klopp and Co., couldn’t have begun faster or brighter, with Darwin Nunez getting on the end of Mohamed Salah’s cross and flicking a brilliant backheel past Thibaut Courtois in the 4th minute. 10 minutes later, a sleepy backpass turned into a nightmare as the ball bounced off Courtois’s knee and fell to Salah atop the six-yard and the Anfield faithful roared to life once again.
The good times came to an abrupt end, though, as Vinicius Junior cut in from the left wing and placed an inch-perfect strike inside the far post for 2-1 after 21 minutes. This came as a negative shock for everyone that was betting on Liverpool. 15 minutes later, it was Alisson’s turn to gift a goal as Joe Gomez played him the ball and, rather than booting it clear, played it off Vinicius’s leg and watched helplessly as it looped and spun high in the Merseyside sky and bounced into an empty goal.