LIV 2-5 RMA, UEFA Champions League HIGHLIGHTS: Benzema, Vinicius braces guide Real Madrid to comeback win vs Liverpool

And that is full-time in an extraordinary game of football.

Real Madrid beats Liverpool 5-2.

Benzema and Vinicus starred with braces as the defending champion renewed its habit of making unreal comebacks in cruch Champions League fixtures.

The game has mellowed down and it works in the favour of the Los Blancos. It has a three-goal advantage, which should be suffiencient going into the next leg at Madrid.

Liverpool pushing more men forward in hopes of making a game out of this.

Real Madrid has learnt its lessons from the first half and has shut down the channels.

Real Madrid should not think of resting on this lead.

If any side is capable of making a second-leg comeback, it is Liverpool.

Real Madrid running circles around Liverpool players now. For two minutes or so, Madrid players just pass the ball around their Liverpool counterparts almost as if it is a training ground rondo.

Establishing their dominance!

Modric refuses to go down in a counter attack despite almost being dragged down. He pushes the ball out to Vinicius, who square it to Benzema.

The striker takes a touch, fakes a shot, sits Alisson down before finding a corner, where Liverpool defenders hadn’t crowded out.

It is 5-2 for Real Madrid and this should be game over for Liverpool.

Liverpool wins a corner thanks to delicious cross from TAA.

The corner is headed away. Bajcetic is the first to the loose ball and he smashes it with right foot and it clips the outside of the post before going out.

CLOSE!!

For all the promise it showed in the early exchanges, Liverpool has collapsed spectacularly. Real Madrid is now passing its way around them with ease, with the home side unable to imaprt any sort of pressure.

And we have another goal!!

Rodrygo and Benzema exchange passes, before the French striker poked it goal-bound weakly, only for it to take a deflection off Gomez and bounce slowly past Alisson.

Benzema gets the goal and Liverpool is two goals behind.

Liverpool thought it was cruising when it took that early 2-0 lead. But Real Madrid showed us the composure and steel which took it to the Champions League title last season.

Real Madrid with the early initiative. Gomes fouls Vinicius at the edge of the box, close to the left corner flag. Modric steps up and rifles it in for Militao to head it in.

Real Madrid’s tryst with Champions League comebacks continue.

We had four goals already. Two brilliantly worked out ones, two the result of horrendous errors from two of the best goalkeepers of the world.

What more can we expect from the second half. Let’s find out.

Liverpool and Real Madrid head into half-time at 2-2, only thanks to some resolute defending in the injury time.

First, Robertson had to make a diving block to prevent Rodrygo from scoring. At the other end Rudiger had to stay sharp to block a Henderson cross.

Anyway, it is half-time in an extraordinary game of football. More to come in the second half.

A few fouls, from both sides, break the tempo of the game. Liverpool wins a freekick following a Modric handball. TAA with the setpiece and he can only hit it straight at Courtois.

The game has slowed down a bit. It had to, considering the breakneck speed it was being played so far. Liverpool gets a decent spell of possession, but Madrid is compact to prevent any sort of attacking movement.

Another goalkeeper error. This time from Alisson.

The Brazilian goalkeeper strikes a ground pass directly at his compatriot Vinicius.

He can only watch helplessly as the ball arcs its way into the goalpost.

What a chaotic game of football has this been!

Chances at both ends.

Valverde is the one who gets the chance to shoot after a slick Real Madrid move. But he ended up slicing the shot wide.

At the other end, Gakpo muscles his way through to the right byline, but can’t find the right cross.

Real Madrid is gaining grounds. The away side moves the ball around smoothly and forces Liverpool into conceding a corner, which finds its way to Vinicius again, who tries to go for the same shot again.

This time Alisson saw it coming and pushed it away.

Liverpool works its way in to the Madrid box. Carvajal and Militao put their bodies on the line to prevent the ball from going in.

Liverpool is hungry for more!!

For the first time this game, Liverpool switches off.

Reds defenders afford Vinicius a little too much time inside the box and he swivels and shoots with his right with unerring accruracy.

The ball flies past Alisson and it is 2-1.

GAME ON!

Liverpool has had a torrid season so far. There were signs of a recoup with a few wins in the Premier League. This could be performance that will revive the season for the Reds’.

A wasteful high pass back to Courtois, who has to knock it down with his chest, only to knock it into the path of Salah. It was way too easy for the Egyptian to knock it in.

WHAT A START FOR LIVERPOOL!!

This is the worst start Real Madrid could have hoped for. Liverpool is giving it no time to settle in and the away side had to concede an early goal.

Real Madrid now also have to deal with the threat of Liverpool’s fast breaks, lead by Salah.

Liverpool takes the early lead.

Salah drives in from the left with the ball. He lifts his head up and picks up the darting run made by Darwin Nunez to the first post. He flicks it stylishly past Courtois.

Anfield is rocking!

Liverpool offers Real Madrid no time on the ball. It is high-octance, high-intensity pressure to start the game with.

Anfield is bouncing as Liverpool fans look to push their side against a formidable opponent they know all too well - Real Madrid. Both sides in their trademark home colours - Liverpool in red and Madrid in white - and the game kicks off.

Liverpool - Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Fabinho, Bajcetic, Henderson; Nunez, Gakpo, Salah

Real Madrid - Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Rudiger, Alaba; Modric, Camavinga, Valverde; Rodrygo, Benzema, Vinicius

Liverpool and Real Madrid will meet for the first time since the final of the Champions League last year. Carlo Ancelotti and Jurgen Klopp have plenty of scores to settle after what happened the last time they met.

With 20 Champions League titles between them, Liverpool vs. Real Madrid is a meeting of two European soccer greats.

Their round-of-16 match at Anfield on Tuesday is also a repeat of last year’s final in Paris, which saw Madrid win the competition for a record-extending 14th time after producing a series of improbable comebacks just to make it to the European showpiece at the Stade de France.

“I still shake my head and scratch my head,” said former England coach and BT Sport analyst Glenn Hoddle. “I covered every one of those games and I still don’t know how they won it. They were out.”

Madrid secured come-from-behind wins against Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City in each of the knockout rounds before beating Liverpool 1-0 in the final.

“They were like a boxer, they were up against the ropes and they were halfway down the ropes and you’re thinking the ref’s going to step in and stop the bout,” Hoddle said. “I don’t know what happened, they just kept going. And they had that quality.”

Where the Champions League is concerned anything seems possible for Madrid, which won the trophy three years in a row from 2016-18 at a time when Barcelona was dominating the Spanish title.

But if any team can rival Madrid’s ability to produce the unexpected in European club soccer’s most prized competition, it is Liverpool.

There was the famous comeback from 3-0 down against AC Milan in the 2005 final before going on to win on penalties. And more recently the 4-3 aggregate win against Barcelona in the semifinals in 2019 after losing 3-0 in the first leg at the Nou Camp.

Madrid, however, has felt like a step too far ever since the draw was made last November.

After all, this is a Liverpool team that faces a fight just to qualify for next season’s competition, let alone win it this year.

Jurgen Klopp has struggled to get his team firing after the departure of key forward Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich last summer and a host of injuries.

Ahead of the first-leg match at Anfield, Klopp can at least be encouraged by a recent upturn in form after back-to-back wins against Everton and Newcastle in the Premier League and goals from misfiring forwards Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez.

Suddenly Liverpool looks in contention again for a Champions League-qualifying spot, sitting seven points off fourth place Tottenham with two games in hand.

Then there is the Anfield factor, with an atmosphere that saw Barcelona wilt in that semifinals comeback and Manchester City repeatedly fall despite dominating English soccer in recent years.

Like Madrid’s fans, the Liverpool crowd believes nothing is beyond their team when it comes to Europe after winning the trophy six times.

Joe Cole played for and against Liverpool and was part of a Chelsea team that lost in the semifinals at Anfield in 2005 and 2007.

“It’s a huge club. It’s as big a club in world football as any and it’s got an expectancy and the fans drive it,” said the BT Sport analyst. “In the ground they turn up for their team. It’s a sight to behold to play for or against them.”

But Cole questions whether Liverpool can overcome this Madrid team, which recently won the Club World Cup.

“They’ve got a job on their hands,” Cole said. “This Real Madrid team is actually better than the team that won it last year, I believe. They’ve improved. The young players coming through are going to be better and the older players are still doing it.”

Madrid also beat Liverpool in the final of 2018 and won when the sides met in the quarterfinals two years ago.

Liverpool: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Robertson; Bajcetic, Fabinho, Henderson; Salah, Gakpo, Jota

Real Madrid: Courtois; Carvajal, Militao, Rudiger, Alaba; Ceballos, Camavinga, Modric; Valverde, Benzema, Vinicius Jr

When and where to watch Liverpool vs Real Madrid Champions League clash?

The Champions League clash, Liverpool vs Real Madrid, will be played at Anfield in England. The kick-off is scheduled for a 1:30 am kick-off.

How to watch Liverpool vs Real Madrid in the Champions League?

The UEFA Champions League round of 16 clash Liverpool and Real Madrid will be live telecast on the Sony Ten Network,

How to live stream Champions League round of 16 match, Liverpool vs Real Madrid?

The Champions League round of 16 clash, Liverpool vs Real Madrid, can be live streamed on Sony LIV.