A look at Liverpool’s night of despair at Anfield

Liverpool’s Champions League hopes are hanging by a thread after they suffered their worst ever European home defeat against Real Madrid in the first leg of their last-16 clash.

Despite going 2-0 up within 15 minutes, the Reds succumbed to the defending champions in spectacular fashion by conceding five unanswered goals.

The demolition marked the first time that Liverpool had conceded five at Anfield in Europe.

Here, Football Mad picks out some key statistics from an extraordinary night.

Record turnaround

Karim Benzema scored Real Madrid’s fourth and fifth goals as Liverpool succumbed in record-breaking fashion (Peter Byrne/PA)

Liverpool became the first team in Champions League history to turn a two-goal lead into a three-goal loss.

The five-goal swing enjoyed by Madrid was the biggest by a side trailing by two or more since Werder Bremen roared back from 3-0 down to beat Anderlecht 5-3 in the 1993-94 group stage.

Whereas Madrid’s turnaround started in the 21st minute with Vinicius Junior’s strike, Werder waited until the 66th minute to pull a goal back through Wynton Rufer – roughly the same stage that Karim Benzema was applying the gloss on the Spaniards’ 5-2 win.

Sign of the times

Liverpool were thrashed 4-1 by Napoli in this season’s group stage (Agostino Gemito/PA)

Tuesday’s thumping loss marked the second time that Liverpool had conceded four or more goals in the Champions League this season.

The other occasion was a 4-1 group stage defeat to Napoli, a night that prompted manager Jurgen Klopp to urge his side to “reinvent” themselves.

The Reds had conceded four in a Champions League game just once before under Klopp – against Roma in the second leg of the 2017-18 semi-final, a tie that they ultimately won on aggregate.

In 104 matches before the German’s arrival, Liverpool had shipped four goals only twice – away at Bayer Leverkusen and Chelsea in the 2001-02 and 2008-09 quarter-finals respectively.

Madrid too good

Real Madrid 0 Liverpool 1 (2008-09 round of 16)
Liverpool 4 Real Madrid 0 (2008-09 round of 16)
Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 3 (2014-15 group stage)
Real Madrid 1 Liverpool 0 (2014-15 group stage)
Real Madrid 3 Liverpool 1 (2017-18 final)
Real Madrid 3 Liverpool 1 (2020-21 quarter-final)
Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 0 (2020-21 quarter-final)
Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 1 (2021-22 final)
Liverpool 2 Real Madrid 5 (2022-23 round of 16)

If Liverpool are unable to turn around their three-goal deficit in the Bernabeu, it will be the third consecutive season and the fourth time in six years that they have exited the competition at the hands of Madrid.

The Reds won their first two Champions League meetings with Madrid in 2008-09, emerging as 5-0 victors on aggregate in the last 16.

However, since then they have lost six out of seven, including two finals in 2017-18 and 2021-22.

Such is their recent dominance over Klopp’s side, Madrid’s Benzema (six) and Vinicius Junior (five) rank first and second for most goals against Liverpool in European Cup and Champions League history.