Teams took to the field for the third week of the Champions League, and the most exciting match everyone was waiting for was Liverpool vs. Real Madrid. This was the fourth time Real Madrid had played Liverpool, going all the way back to the 1980 European Cup final. In the three previous games, Real Madrid was unable to defeat Liverpool, and had never scored at Anfield. Real had to sit out their stars Gareth Bale and Sergio Ramos, while Liverpool were without Daniel Sturridge.
The first few minutes of the game were back-and-forth with Liverpool trying to attack and Real doing the same. The key factor of the game was the ball possession Real had, where they created more pressure with phenomenal movement on and off the ball. This made Liverpool panic from the back, and at times, it seemed as if Liverpool were the away team defending with 11 men back every time the visitors had the ball.
The first goal came at the 23rd minute, as Cristiano Ronaldo got a ball in Liverpool’s third of the half from Pepe, turned and did a quick one-two with Karim Benzema and then another one-two with James Rodriguez. James controlled the ball with his right foot and delivered a perfect pass into space to Ronaldo, who beat Liverpool’s back line with his speed and volleyed the ball into the net.
The second goal came from another simple mistake in the 30th minute. Coutinho was unable to clear a Real corner, and they took advantage of the second opportunity to put a ball across and Benzema finished with a looping header leaving the goalie stuck. At this point Real Madrid controlled the game and Liverpool seemed confused.
After another simple mistake in the 40th minutes on a corner kick, Real made it 3-0. Three Liverpool players went up in the air to try to clear the ball and none of them got to it. Pepe got the ball unexpectedly, and passed to Benzema who only needed to tap it in. Three simple mistakes cost the game for Liverpool, who only had one close opportunity in the first half when Coutinho hit the post.
With both teams having key players missing, they had to set up in the pitch differently. Liverpool without Sturridge, set up a line of four in the back with Steven Gerrard as their center defensive mid, with two natural center mids above Gerrard with lots of speed in the wings Sterling and Coutinho. We did not see Coutinho so much on the right wing he would pinch in a lot in the center of the field to try to create something for Balotelli. Real Madrid without Gareth Bale and Sergio Ramos stepped in the pitch with a line of four in the back. Raphaël Varane and Pep had a wonderful game very organized in the back making Balotelli a lack of threat. Line of four in the midfield James as right mid and Isco in the left, Lucas Modric and Tony Kroos in the center midfield. Isco and James had a very organized role defensively, they were high on pressure at all times which cause Liverpool a headaches and lack of posession coming out the back. Cristiano Ronaldo has very key part in this game as he was on top with Benzema instead of usually being as left wing. Cristiano would drop to get the ball demand it in the wing to cause a threat, sometimes pinch in the center of the field and caused a pulling marks, just like he did in the first goal. Liverpool will continue to use this formation until Daniel Sturridge is back and Real Madrid found out today that this formation can be an option whenever Carlos Ancelotti wants to try something different.
Follow me on Twitter: @joelxnunez
Photo Credit: Action Images
Comments are closed.