Liverpool 4-0 Real Madrid
Gerrard & Torres celebrate against Real Madrid.
What a night at Anfield! Liverpool demolished Real Madrid 4-0 to storm into the Quarter-Finals of the UEFA Champions League, and they could have scored even more.
Leading 1-0 from the first leg, thanks to Yossi Benayoun’s late strike in the Santiago Bernabeu, many pundits and fans expected a cautious start from the Reds. But right from the kick-off Liverpool tore into the nine-time European Champions, lead by Fernando Torres who was as pumped up for this match as I’d ever seen.
The Real goalkeeper was kept busy saving from Torres and Javier Mascherano before El Nino opening the scoring after 16 minutes. Soon after Gabriel Heinze was adjudged to have handled the ball in the penalty area, wrongly in my view, and captain Steven Gerrard, playing his 100th European match for Liverpool, blasted the second goal past Iker Casillas from the spot. Game over for the Spanish Champions.
Gerrard and substitute Andrea Dossena scored in the second half to inflict Real’s worst defeat in the re-branded Champions League. The icing on the cake came on 73 minutes when Birkenhead-born Jay Spearing replaced Huyton’s Gerrard to make his home debut. Spearing gave the Real midfield problems immediately, and not even the impressive Lassana Diarra could get the ball off him!
Seeing a local lad come through the youth system and take the to the Anfield stage against such illustrious opposition, during an emphatic mauling, was great to see. But even better was to hear the Spion Kop sing; “There’s only one Jay Spearing!” No doubt young Jay would be made up with that!
It’s always special to see a Liverpool lad make it to the first team. We’ve been spoilt in the recent past with Robbie Fowler, Steve McManaman, Steven Gerrard all going on to become some of the greatest players in the world. I only hope in 10-years time I can add Spearing to that list.
Jay Spearing
I also hope that Rafa Benitez gives some of the other youngsters, such as Stephen Darby and Martin Kelly, a chance in the remainder of the season.
A fantastic night at Anfield and now we’re into the Quarter-Finals. I only hope that we can draw a European team in the next round. However, with all four English side making it through, the cynic in me expects us to meet English opposition all the way to the final. What is the point of the European Cup if you end up playing domestic opposition three times?
Personally I’d like to see the country protection rule scrapped. UFEA rules state that teams from the same country cannot meet each other until the Quarter-Final stage. I see no problem with English sides meeting early on in the competition, even if all four teams were drawn together in the opening group. In fact, if that did happen, it would make for a very exciting group stage!
I’m hoping for Bayern Munich in the next round.
You can see some of our images on the Liverpoolfc.tv web site here. And the full coverage of the match on our editorial archive here.
