Impossible mission for Liverpool
As the pattern of the impossible, Madrid has flooded Liverpool’s visit to the Bernabéu with warning messages. Nobody in the history of European competitions has lifted away a three-goal deficit at home, but, in the words of Butragueño, in that stadium “things happen”. And some have bordered on the supernatural (follow the game live on As.com). The data that feed this extreme pessimism are few, but they exist. Madrid has been eliminated twice at the Bernabéu after winning in the first leg ( against Odense in UEFA 94-95, 2-3 and 0-2, and against Ajax in the Champions League 18-19, 1- 2 and 1-4) and in recent times he has leaned into the abyss in similar circumstances. Bayern and Chelsea took him to extra time in 2017 and 2022 after a 1-2 in Munich and a 1-3 in London. He dispelled the threat in overtime. And in 2018 Juventus came to equalize the 0-3 in the first leg , although they ended up being eliminated by a very controversial penalty in the discount.
Madrid awaits for the big game
To its own data, Madrid must add those of others. This same season, Liverpool has achieved in their Champions League trips a score that would classify them (1-7 against Rangers) and another that would take them to extra time (0-3 against Ajax). Last year he made Porto 1-5. In this Premier, at Anfield, they scored 9-0 against Bournemouth and 7-0 against United. Those offensive floods from Klopp’s team, prone to exaggeration, are the ones that keep Madrid on alert. Also the Champions League final, in which the reds fired 23 times, forced Courtois to make nine saves and fell on the only shot on goal for the whites.