That felt so good. The first competitive Liverpool FC win over Real Madrid since March 2009. Curse well and truly shattered. Arne Slot just needs to get Joe Gomez on the scoresheet now to earn the Key to the City.
What an absolute monster of a performance. The biggest compliment you can pay that performance, is that Real Madrid had to resort to throwing themselves to the floor and time wasting. The so called best team in Europe came to us and played like they were fighting a relegation battle and desperately needed the point.
Kelleher – had bugger all to do until the penalty, which he saved superbly. Made a few other routine saves after that but his distribution was what stood out here for me. How do you drop him after his performances this season? 9/ 10
Bradley – Mbappe, who? Pocketed. Also went and set up the opening goal, and tested Courtois with a powerful header down low. But forget all that. He stole the show when he absolutely cleaned out Mbappe (fairly) to halt a Madrid counter attack. He had so many big moments that it almost went under the radar how many times he nickd possession back in their half, or got his body in to draw a foul. He literally did not put a foot wrong other than when he tried to pass the ball to Gakpo as he was stood with the 4th official waiting to come on! I think we can let him off for that. Man of the match for me. 10/ 10
Konate – Imperious. Every time Mbappe tried to go between him and Bradley, Konate just eased him out the way and took charge. Won everything in the air, and had Endrick on strings at the end to the point the little brat just started kicking out. Hope he’s okay for Sunday as his partnership with Virgil will be needed to deal with Haaland. 9/ 10
Virgil – A fair shout for man of the match on any other day. His switching of the play killed Madrid a few times. He won everything in the air. He absolutely bodied Mbappe and made him look like a school girl. Captain fantastic. 9/ 10
Robertson – I know he gave away a penalty with a rash decision in the box, but other than that he was as good as he’s been all season. He had Guler and Diaz in his pocket, so they put Valverde out there instead and he got no change out of Robbo either. It is a huge shame about the one silly decision to give Vazquez the chance to throw himself to the floor, as you have to be wise to the cheating Spanish teams on nights like last night. A great cross for the second goal capped off a much improved performance, but he’s got to stop diving in as it could’ve cost us. 7/ 10
Gravenberch – I was nervous we’d end up with 10 men when he got himself booked early on for dissent. Well how silly do I look now. It didn’t even phase him. He was winning duels all game, all over the pitch and still made time to spin Camavinga, Bellignham and Modric into a nauseous headache. Who here would’ve believed anyone if they’d said 6 months ago that Gravenberch would take that Madrid midfield 3 to the cleaners? 9/ 10
Jones – Gravenberch wasn’t alone though, Jones was absolutely unbelievable. He literally ran Camavinga into the floor. The poor guy had to tear his hamstring trying to live with Jones. If we get this Jones every week, then I’m not fussed we missed out on Caicedo and Bellingham, because he’s genuinely been better than both so far this season. Is it just a purple patch though, or can he finally live up to the expectations we all had when he curled that shot into the top corner in a Merseyside derby all those years ago? 9/ 10
Mac Allister – Possibly his best game in a red shirt. He was everywhere and scored the all important opening goal. Some incredible little passes throughout kept the Madrid defence penned in deeper than they would’ve liked. He took a sensible booking for the team when needed as well, but didn’t let it affect the defensive side of his game. 9/ 10
Salah – Madrid quite smartly put two or three defenders on him at all times which stifled what he was able to do, but he still found time to create a few chances with his probing passes into the box. He also turned Mendy into a quivering mess for the penalty win. However, I do wish he’d step away from penalty duty when we have Mac Allister and Szoboszlai now, who are both better than him from the spot. Luckily, his miss didn’t affect the outcome of the game! 6/ 10
Nunez – What an absolute menace. He didn’t give any of the Madrid defence or midfield any time. He rattled the young defender early on by dabbling in a bit of dark arts. He was denied a brace by two absolutely world class saves from Courtois and he was only inches away from scoring one of the most outrageous headers of all time. If even one of those went in, I’d probably have picked him for joint man of the match but unfortunately he yet again comes away with people talking about nearly moments. Hopefully it clicks soon. 7/ 10
Diaz – Probably the only player I was disappointed in actually. When I saw Madrid start with Valverde at right back, I thought Diaz would have a field day but when a chance fell for him, he panicked and tried a header instead of letting it drop for a volley. He then dragged a shot horribly wide when the better option was clearly to go outside the defender and square it with his left foot. Then late on he missed another opportunity to square it to Szoboszlai for a tap in. With the Madrid defence so lopsided trying to over compensate for having two men on Salah, I really thought Diaz should’ve taken advantage a lot more than he did. He still worked incredibly hard, but the opportunity was there for him to come away with a goal and a couple of assists at least. If he’d been foiled by great goalkeeping or defending then you say fair enough, but he was foiled by his own decision making inside the penalty area. 5/ 10
Gakpo – Came on as a sub and did exactly what Diaz didn’t do. He was more direct and aggressive in his approach play and Madrid eventually just resorted to kicking him. More importantly though, he came up with end product. No defender on the planet was going to stop him from scoring a towering header than Van Dijk would’ve been proud of though. Great cameo. 8/ 10
Szoboszlai – Didn’t have enough time to make much of an impact but he worked his socks off and should’ve had a goal if Diaz had got his head up. 6/ 10
Gomez – Came on too late to do that much. He didn’t put a foot wrong though during the late onslaught from Madrid. 6/ 10
Ultimately, the game was won in the midfield and defence for us because down to a man we won our individual battles. Madrid couldn’t live with the dynamism of Jones and Gravenberch, and they had no answer for Mac Allister’s movement in the final 3rd other than to clatter him. Our defence held strong to keep a clean sheet as well, so it didn’t really matter that our 3 starting forwards weren’t at their prolific best. We showed we have strength in depth though by sending on Gakpo to seal the win.
Enjoy today my fellow reds. We’ve waited over 15 years for this. Arne Slot is a football genius.
Written by MK Scouser November 28 2024 11:07:52
