LIVERPOOL KNOCKED OUT OF THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE

After 180 minutes of exciting football, it was Real Madrid who progressed to the Champions League Semi-Finals beating recent winners Liverpool 3-1 on aggregate.

It was a lacklustre performance from the 2019 European Champions in Madrid which left them a mountain to climb at an empty Anfield on Wednesday night.

Goals from Vinicius Junior and Marco Asensio meant that Real had a two goal lead going in at half time in the first leg. A better performance from the visitors in the second half meant going into the second leg at Anfield, 3-1 down and with an away goal there was still a chance.

So, Jurgen Klopp’s men needed to score two goals without response from Real Madrid to progress to the Semi-Finals but it wasn’t to be. With the amount of quality attacking players present and the absence of both teams first choice centre backs, they played out an unexpected 0-0 draw at Anfield.

The Reds had 15 attempts on Madrid’s goal with 4 on target and most memorable of them was Mo Salah’s missed effort inside the first few minutes in which he hit straight at Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.

As the second half wore on, Liverpool seemed to become less decisive and less accurate but their continued desire to carry out was what Liverpool fans will take positives from.

Also a very commendable peformance from Liverpool’s very own right-back Trent Alexander-Arnold who had 107 touches and made 6 key passes in the game, arguably Liverpool’s best player on the night and despite receiving recent criticism over his defensive skills, the 22 year old didn’t seem distracted by any of it.

So in the end, Real Madrid will face Chelsea in the semi-finals, the first leg of which they will host the London Blues followed by a trip to Stamford Bridge a week later. The first leg will be played on 27/28 April with the return leg being played on 4/5 May.

What next for Liverpool? Although there is now no chance of silverware this season for Klopp’s men they still have a battle for a place in next years Champions League group stages and with fellow fighters Chelsea through to the Semi-Finals of this seasons competition maybe Liverpool can capitalise on Chelsea’s busier schedule and steal a top four stop from Thomas Tuchel’s blues.