Los Blancos came from 2-0 down to hand out a 5-2 thrashing to the Reds, with their Brazilian forward leading from the front once more....CONTINUE READING THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
In the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 match, Real Madrid knocked Liverpool out with a performance for the ages from Vinicius Junior.
The winger scored twice to help Madrid overcome an early deficit and then ran riot as his team jumped out to a commanding lead. He ultimately played a key role in a convincing 5-2 victory for Madrid at Anfield.
Darwin Nunez’s beautiful flick at the near post in response to Mohamed Salah’s cross gave Liverpool the lead early on. Within the next 15 minutes, Salah added a second goal by converting into an open net following a mistake by Thibaut Courtois.
In response, Vinicius curled a ball past an incapable Alisson shortly after, bringing Madrid back within one with less than a quarter of the game remaining. Then, 15 minutes later, he scored once more by redirecting Alisson’s errant pass into the open goal to end a breathless first half.
At the break, he was again involved, drawing a careless foul from a clumsy Joe Gomez, and from the resulting free-kick, Eder Militao scored to give Madrid the lead.
Before the 65th minute, Madrid scored two more goals to extend their lead, and Karim Benzema scored one of them to seal the triumph.
The storied Madrid magic was back in the Champions League, and the reigning European Cup winners proved once again why they should not be discounted in their preferred league.
Liverpool must now defeat Real Madrid by a margin of three. Vini must be involved for that to be exceedingly unlikely.
