On a night when Real Madrid’s galácticos were brought down to earth at Anfield for the second season in a row, only the most dedicated Madridista would have bothered to sift through the wreckage for positives.
A tip of the veil for Marca, who managed to put Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois at the center of the front page on Wednesday, despite Liverpool’s 1-0 victory in the Champions League. “Courtois can’t handle everything,” read the Madrid publication’s headline, alongside a photo of the stopper trying in vain to keep out Alexis Mac Allister’s winning header.
“The Belgian goalkeeper kept his team in the match until the goal with several excellent saves,” Marca declared, before adding: “It was the second defeat of the season for a Real Madrid side that repeated the mistakes of the derby,” a reference to September’s 5-2 defeat in the league against city rivals Atlético.
“If the defeat was limited to just one goal, it was thanks to Courtois, who was reminiscent of the one in the Saint-Denis final when he tormented Liverpool,” wrote columnist Alfredo Relaño. “That day Vinicius scored the only goal; this time it was Mac Allister.”
A skeptic could be forgiven for wondering whether, by focusing on Courtois’s performances, Marca was tacitly trying to assuage the disappointment of its readers, not least by conjuring up memories of Real’s victory over Liverpool in the 2022 Champions League final at the Stade de France.
‘Liverpool’s nightmare is two meters high’
It is not unpredictable that AS followed a similar line. “Courtois left alone,” read the headline, this time beneath an image of the Belgium international – hailed as “the best goalkeeper in the world” by the Madrid publication – denying Dominik Szoboszlai from close range. The accompanying report suggested that only Courtois’ heroics stood between Real and a much worse result and applauded the 33-year-old’s stubbornness while acknowledging that his resistance could not last forever.
“Liverpool’s nightmare is almost two meters high,” AS wrote of a match that in reality will have left few on the red half of Merseyside with bad dreams. “Three consecutive corners were handled by Courtois, who made two spectacular saves from headers [Virgil] Van Dijk and [Hugo] Ekitiké, plus a third header from the Frenchman that he parried onto the post.
“Madrid were caught in the derby spiral: disoriented, withdrawn, with little desire to fight for loose balls. It seemed they would only last as long as Courtois could. And the Belgian couldn’t handle it all. The fourth header was fatal. Szoboszlai, the star of the match, controlled the ball and Mac Allister headed it home impressively.”
Elsewhere, little attempt was made to soften the outcome. “Real crash,” declared Barcelona-based newspaper Sport; “KO Blanco,” announced Mundo Deportivo, also based in Catalonia, adding that Madrid were “thoroughly outclassed by a dominant Liverpool”.
European newspapers say Real Madrid ‘lacks conviction’
“The English team won almost every game, and for the second time this season (after the match at the Metropolitano) Madrid were clearly outplayed, with a very poor performance,” said Mundo Deportivo, adding that Real “dominated possession but lacked conviction”.
Alonso’s side did indeed have the ball more than not, restricting Liverpool to just 39% possession, but the home side had more touches in the opponent’s penalty area (29 to 25), as well as 17 shots to Madrid’s eight and a superior xG (2.58 to 0.45).
As Mundo Deportivo summarized: “Liverpool managed their lead like a real powerhouse and remained in control until the final whistle. They took all three points in a match that could mark another turning point for Real Madrid – still unable to impose their dominance on Europe’s elite.”
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