Arne Slot could be forgiven for thinking this is an annual event in autumn on Merseyside. For the second consecutive year, Real Madrid were beaten on a heady night during an electric Anfield atmosphere. Just like last year, Alexis Mac Allister opened the scoring, the World Cup winner serving as the scourge of the European Cup’s most storied club.
The difference – and perhaps the reason why this felt a still greater feat – is that Liverpool had stumbled into a potentially defining week. “We had a very bad run of form in terms of results,” said Slot. “No excuse in the world can make up for us losing so many games.” But after six defeats in seven games, they have overcome Aston Villa, winners of one European Cup, and Real, winners of a mere 15. From the worst run of Slot’s managerial career, Liverpool delivered their best performance of the season. This was restorative. This was remarkable.
“It was impressive because we played against an incredible side, that is in an unbelievable run of form,” said Slot. Real arrived with 13 wins in 14 games this season and a 100 per cent record in the Champions League. They departed defeated, perhaps demoralised. They had scored in every game this season until they encountered Liverpool, who had spent much of the campaign looking fragile at the back. And yet, apart from a Jude Bellingham shot that Giorgi Mamardashvili repelled, Liverpool’s backup goalkeeper could simply watch a display that suggested Liverpool are back. “The whole team defended really well,” said Slot. After two clean sheets all season, they have two in consecutive games. Suddenly, they have savoured the sense of being hard to beat.
Anfield’s record European attendance brought the noise. Slot’s unrelenting players provided the energy on the pitch. Liverpool were powered by the midfield and it was fitting they made the difference. Real were bruised by Liverpool’s physicality, unable to cope by legal methods. “We gave away far too many free kicks,” said Xabi Alonso. One proved particularly costly.
For the second successive season, it was Mac Allister who broke the deadlock. Scoring against Real is a happy habit and the Argentinian headed in Dominik Szoboszlai’s free kick. “We can say we beat them because of a set-piece,” said Slot. It was a goal that could also be attributed to weight of pressure as much as anything else but it involved all three of the midfield, with Ryan Gravenberch winning the free kick when fouled by Bellingham. Rewind to 2023 and, when Liverpool had initially hoped to sign the Englishman and he chose Real, they instead pivoted to bring in Mac Allister, Szoboszlai and Gravenberch. This was not a night when Liverpool needed to rue the one who got away; or the two, given that Aurelien Tchouameni is another former Liverpool target in the Real midfield.
But the last two games are signs that Mac Allister has finally regained his sharpness. At a stroke, Liverpool looked more formidable. And yet, if the Argentinian was upstaged, it was because the ubiquitous Szoboszlai was magnificent. He ended with an assist on a night when he almost scored a goal and it seemed he had won a penalty. One way or another, he would not be denied.
Yet, for an hour, Liverpool were frustrated. This, it seemed, was the 2022 final all over again, Liverpool facing an old nemesis. It was not, as billed, Liverpool against Trent Alexander-Arnold but Liverpool against Thibaut Courtois, not their former player but their familiar enemy. “Thibaut was fantastic,” said Xabi Alonso.
Courtois made nine saves in Paris in 2022. There were a host more in a rematch, four of them from Szoboszlai. The Belgian made a brilliant block from the Hungarian when he was released by Florian Wirtz as Liverpool launched a lightning-quick break.
There were two saves from corners in a minute, with first Virgil van Dijk and then Hugo Ekitike denied in triumphs of Courtois’s reflexes. He also thwarted Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo, the other scorer last year.
If Courtois gave Real a reprieve, so did the officials. Liverpool briefly thought they had a penalty when Szoboszlai’s drive hit Tchouameni’s hands and referee Istvan Kovacs was sent to the monitor. He instead overturned his initial decision of a free kick, ruling the Frenchman’s hands were in a natural position. Anfield was not impressed, though the decision was probably correct. Slot’s players produced the right response. “We performed our gameplan perfectly,” said Van Dijk.
Real did not. Alonso, part of a Liverpool team who beat Real 4-0 here 16 years ago, experienced another wonderful Anfield European night, though he had rather less to enjoy in this rematch. He ended up booked for his late protests, though at least a 2005 Champions League winner was spared the treatment afforded to Alexander-Arnold.
It made for a thoroughly miserable return for the Liverpudlian. Hours before kick-off, his mural was defaced. He was booed in the warm-up, his every touch jeered when he came on for the last 10 minutes. “It could be expected,” added Alonso. “He is professional and mature so he was ready for that.”
Mostly, however, the Kop celebrated the right-back who has replaced Alexander-Arnold in their affections by chanting for Conor Bradley. “To be up against Vinicius [Junior] so many times one-v-one is not for everyone,” said Slot. But the Northern Irishman relished the challenge. Anfield echoed to the sound of the Northern Irishman’s name when, in a role reversal, Vinicius was booked for fouling Bradley, tugging back the marauding right-back. “Conor was outstanding,” said Slot. For the second successive season, he played superbly against Real. For the second successive season, so did Liverpool.
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