Liverpool vs Real Madrid: Visitors likely to have too much nous for Reds
Jurgen Klopp’s men struggled in the first leg and the in-form Spaniards can finish the job off at Anfield on Wednesday night.
When: Wednesday, April 14, 20:00 BST
How to watch: BT Sport 2
Best bets
Vinicius Junior to score anytime at 16/5 (Sky Bet)
Karim Benzema to score first and Real Madrid to win 2-1 at 66/1 (Sky Bet)
In hindsight, it seems really quite strange that Real Madrid were considered underdogs for the first leg in Spain.
The talk in Spain beforehand had been what a defining part of the season this was for Los Blancos. With the two quarter-final ties against Liverpool either side of a crunch El Clasico against Barcelona, their campaign would continue on merrily or be torn apart.
Against Barca, Zinedine Zidane's men went 2-0 up inside the first 36 minutes, just as they had done against Liverpool, and held off a second-half fightback from their Catalan rivals to win 2-1.
That represented a sixth straight win in all competitions and since early February they've won 11 and drawn the other two of their 13 matches.
Last three meetings:
Real Madrid 3-1 Liverpool (April 6, 2021)
The scoreline was a repeat of their 2018 Champions League final meeting - and plenty of the same names were on show - although this time there were no horrific goalkeeping blunders from the Reds. That said, Alisson didn't cover himself in glory for Real's third and Liverpool were sloppy throughout.
This was a deserved win for the hosts. Vinicius Junior scored an excellent opener after chesting down Toni Kroos' superb long pass and firing across Alisson after 27 before Trent Alexander-Arnold's misguided header allowed Marco Asensio to net from close range nine minutes later.
Mo Salah, who else, prodded in a vital away goal six minutes into the second half before Vinicius's first-time shot squirmed under Alisson after 65.
Real were easily worth their two-goal advantage and, in some senses, Liverpool got away with it; the scoreline could have been much worse.
Real Madrid 3-1 Liverpool (May 26, 2018)
The 2018 Champions League final won't be forgotten quickly.
Salah was in sensational form heading to Kiev but lasted just 30 minutes after Ramos' dark arts did for him.
Still 0-0 after 51 minutes, the second half became a nightmare for Reds goalkeeper Loris Karius as his throw out was diverted back into the net by Karim Benzema before he let a Gareth Bale hit-and-hope squirm through his fingers late on to seal Liverpool's fate.
Sadio Mane had prodded in an equaliser after 55 minutes but Bale had restored Real's lead with a worldie overhead kick which Karius could do nothing about.
Real Madrid 1-0 Liverpool (November 4, 2014)
A game that played a part in Brendan Rodgers' eventual downfall as he severely narked Liverpool's established stars by sending out a heavily weakened team.
For the record: Mignolet, Kolo Toure, Manquillo, Moreno, Skrtel, Lallana, Lucas, Allen, Can, Borini, Markovic.
That line-up smacked of damage limitation and lack of ambition and even though Liverpool only lost 1-0 to a 27th-minute Benzema goal there were wider ramifications.
It's not every day you get to play in the Bernabeu and bringing on Steven Gerrard, Raheem Sterling and Philippe Coutinho late on did little to appease their frustration.
Head-to-head
Liverpool wins: 3
Draws: 0
Real Madrid wins: 4
Liverpool scored: 8
Real Madrid scored: 10
Reds will miss Anfield electricity
Okay, the latter part of the statement only became applicable a few days ago after the 2-1 win over Aston Villa. But that victory made it four wins in five games and last season's title beast is showing some signs of awakening as the run-in looms.
Klopp's side were certainly creating more chances than they had been previously during that revenge win over Villa - a team that had thumped them 7-2 earlier in the season - but it took an injury-time winner to get them over the line.
The negative is that their finishing was still poor and it needed a piece of Trent brilliance to sneak the three points.
Liverpool's last five results:
Scoreline prediction: Liverpool 1-2 Real Madrid
Liverpool were fairly abject in the first leg but perhaps there was good reason given that the champions have been largely excellent on the road in recent months.
The 'good reason' is that Real Madrid are in full flow again and are past masters of two-legged soccer. Unfortunately, Klopp's men seem to have run into them at exactly the wrong time.
While some teams - Arsenal a prime example - have hardly laid a glove on Liverpool's makeshift centre-back pairing of Ozan Kabak and Nat Phillips, Real Madrid exposed them.
And I expect this is where the collective absence of Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip adds up to one thing - the end of the road.
The draw - which would absolutely suit Real - is a decent bet at 3/1 but I think Madrid can claim victory on the night as well as booking their spot in the last four.
Goalscorer bets
As a stand-alone bet, Vinicius Junior has to be worth a go at 16/5 to score anytime. He caused Liverpool all sorts of problems in the first meeting, scoring twice.
Secondly, I'll try for a huge payout by going for the not-too-hard-to-envisage scenario of Karim Benzema scoring the first goal in a Real Madrid 2-1 win. It pays a massive 66/1 with Sky Bet.