There are no miracles with Real Madrid – Sport – Kommersant

In the football Champions League, the last participants of the quarter-final stage of the play-off were determined. Real Madrid also defeated Liverpool in the second leg, although not as big as on the road – 1:0. And Napoli defeated Eintracht 3-0 in Naples.

There was no doubt that Bayern, Benfica, Inter, Manchester City, Milan and Chelsea would be joined by Real and Napoli in the Champions League quarter-finals. Both teams achieved such results away from home that all they had to do at home was to formalize tickets to the next play-off round.

The Neapolitans in Frankfurt beat Eintracht 2-0, and even “put” on the red card the opponent’s leader, the French striker Randal Colo Muani, who, by the way, is now the best player in the German championship in the “goal plus pass” system. It is clear that without him it was no longer necessary to talk about any chances for success for the Frankfurt team. As a result, at home, Napoli confidently finished off the opponent – 3: 0, and Victor Osimhen scored a double.

Madrid brought an even more convincing victory from Liverpool – 5:2, despite the fact that in the debut of that match they were inferior 0:2. Jurgen Klopp’s team recently smashed Manchester United in the English Premier League – 7:0, seemingly showing that it is too early to bury it in the confrontation with Real Madrid, but immediately before the visit to the Santiago Bernabeu, they managed to lose to the mediocre Bournemouth – 0:1, making it clear that miracles from her still should not be expected.

However, the head coach of Liverpool promised to still try to perform this miracle. Klopp’s wards jumped ahead in the first minutes and even had the opportunity to quickly open the scoring when Mohamed Salah pressed Antonio Rudiger and brought out Darwin Nunez, but the Uruguayan hit goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. However, Real Madrid calmly reacted to this semblance of a starting onslaught and forced the guests to defend themselves, and they missed Vinicius Junior, and only goalkeeper Alisson saved them from an inevitable goal when the Brazilian striker hit point-blank. And then another defensive midfielder Eduardo Kamavinga hit the crossbar because of the penalty area.

And in the future, Liverpool, to put it mildly, did not outplay Real Madrid, although they periodically surrounded the gates of Courtois and disturbed him. The Belgian again parried Nunez’s blow and caught the ball, to which Cody Gakpo kissed with all his might. But all this was not enough even for one goal, and the English club, in order to at least transfer the match to extra time, needed to score three. The guests coped well with the task not to miss. True, the Madrid players were clearly not thirsty for blood, realizing that there was no point in attacking recklessly, and demonstrated healthy pragmatism.

In general, the first half was wasted for Liverpool. And the further, the more unrealistic was his victory in the sum of two meetings. And it’s good that at the beginning of the second half, Alisson again helped out, stopping Federico Valverde, who was running one on one with him. When Klopp was finally convinced that the game plan was not working, he made two substitutions in attack, including the experienced Roberto Firmino. Nevertheless, it was still impossible to say that Liverpool were ready to go for broke. The same Courtois did not experience any pressure, while the balls flew over Alisson with a whistle. Karim Benzema in one of the episodes gasped so much that the Brazilian goalkeeper did not even have time to raise his hands, but the Frenchman also missed a little.

The goal was brewing for Real Madrid and in the 78th minute it matured. Vinicius seemed to have missed the moment when he waved past the ball, being in front of Alisson, and even fell. However, even lying on the lawn, he contrived to give a pass to Benzema, who hit the already empty net. The Madrid captain scored and with a clear conscience went to the bench, especially since he played with damage. Behind him, other team leaders sat down on the bench, because Liverpool could not change anything for sure. 1:0 – and Real Madrid in the quarterfinals.

Alexander Ilyin