By Victor Kanayo
Real Madrid Tuesday night, came from two goals down to pound struggling Liverpool 5-2 at Anfield in the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League.
In a re-run of last year’s final, the first half was played at a ferocious pace, with the hosts racing into a fourth-minute lead through a superb Darwin Nunez flick – the quickest goal Liverpool have ever scored at Anfield in the Champions League.
Anfield erupted 10 minutes later, when a horrendous miscontrol from Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, left Mohamed Salah with the simple task of slotting the ball home to make it 2-0.
Yet, just as they did on several occasions en route to their 14th European Cup crown last season, Real quickly turned things around, with Vinicius Jr., scoring one sublime strike and one fluke goal after another goalkeeping mistake to level the match by halftime.
A bullet Eder Militao header completed the turnaround for Real early in the second half, sapping all the life out of Anfield in the process.
The hosts’ misery was not done there, however, as Karim Benzema’s double ensured Liverpool shipped five goals at home for only the third time this century in all competitions, leaving them with a monumental task to reach the quarterfinals.
Elsewhere, goals from Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen and Giovanni Di Lorenzo, gave Napoli a comfortable 2-0 victory at Eintracht Frankfurt in their Champions League last-16 first leg on Tuesday night.
Osimhen scored and had another goal ruled out as offside, as Napoli dominated the Champions League Round of 16 ties against Frankfurt.
It was Osimhen’s 20th goal in 24 appearances this season, with Napoli — also including seven consecutive goals in Serie A for the first time in the history of the club.
The Partenopei now have one foot in the quarter-final, after the 2-0 victory at the Deutsche Bank Park, sealed by Osimhen and Giovanni Di Lorenzo, while Kvicha Kvaratskhelia also saw his penalty saved by Kevin Trapp.
