Full time: Liverpool 4-0 Real Madrid (agg: 5-0) – Torres, Gerrard (2), Dossena
21:40 Elsewhere, Bayern Munich 7-1 Sporting Lisbon (that’s 12-1 on aggregate!), Juventus 2-2 Chelsea (2-3 on aggregate to Gus Hiddink’s men) and Panithinaikos 1-2 Villarreal (2-3 on aggregate). But the night belongs to Liverpool.
21:38 Well done Redmen. That was a truly fantastic performance. If it hadn’t been for some goalkeeping heroics from Iker Casillas, it could have been more. Liverpool thoroughly tore Real Madrid apart. The visiting fans stay on to applaud ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’.
90mins +4 That’s it! Full-time and Liverpool have produced the most fantastic of European performances to thrash Real Madrid 4-0 on the night and 5-0 on aggregate. Liverpool were amazing tonight, wonderful football and a great all-round performance. The Reds march on to the quarter-finals in style.
90mins + 3 Last action of the game – Kuyt just holding the ball up at the corner flag.
90mins + 2 Lucas goes close! They’re lining up to score. Skrtel found himself on the right wing, the ball fell to Kuyt who crossed for Lucas who’s shot just fires over the bar.
90mins + 1 You’ll Never Walk Alone sounds out from the Kop. Magical, magical Anfield night.
90mins There will be 3 minutes added on.
89mins What a fantastic European night at Anfield! The Kop singing “Attack! Attack! Attack”. 4-0 up and it could have even been more had it not been for Casillas.
88mins GOAL! The substitue Dossena gets the fourth of the night!!! Babel with great work on the right feels in Mascherano who’s low cross finds Dossena with a cool left-foot finish at The Kop end.
86mins Great ball from Spearing finds Dossena down the right. His dangerous cross for Babel is cleared for a corner.
85mins YELLOW CARD. Dossena’s first action is to get booked. Clumsy challenge on Guti.
84mins So no Gerrard, no Torres and we’re 3-0 up against Real Madrid.
83mins Real thought they had a consolation goal there. Higuain’s header was offside from the corner. SUBSTITUTION: Andreas Dossena comes on for Fernando Torres
82mins The Kop are singing, “There’s only one Jay Spearing.”
80mins Torres with a curling shot from the edge of the area after great player from Jay Spearing, but a great save from Casillas yet again.
79mins Raul misses another sitter. Acres of space for the header at the back post from Guti’s cross, but doesn’t even trouble Reina and it’s high and over.
76mins Anfield is buzzing – this is a magical European night. Just as Gago fires embarassingly open from the penalty spot area. That’s his last kick of the game – SUBSTITUON: Guti on for Gago.
75mins In Italy, Juventus are now 2-1 up against Chelsea. But Chelsea have the away goal so they’re still going through as it stands. In case you were wondering, no Momo Sissoko isn’t playing for the Italians – he’s injured.
73mins Torres nearly through on goal but is caught up by Heinze and the move is over.
72mins SUBSTITUTION. Amazing Anfield reception for the introduction of Jay Spearing into the game. It’s his first competative game here at Anfield and a magic moment to come on against Real Madrid for the youngster. Steven Gerrard makes way, who wins the heoric standing ovation.
70mins Jay Spearing is coming on for Liverpool! What a moment for the young Scouser.
68mins The ball ping pongs about on the edge of the Liverpool area again and Real bundle it forward. Raul falls in the area and looks for a penalty under pressure from Carra, but no chance.
67mins Real Madrid win a free-kick right on the egde of the area. The ball got tangled up on the edge of the D. I think Skrtel was penalised. Harsh. Snijder’s free-kick is awful, miles over.
66mins Alonso’s returned from the treatment room and is sat on the bench now. Looks like there’s not too many worries over his ankle problem.
65mins Good defending from Carra, heading out safely for a corner from Van Der Vaart’s threatening cross.
63mins SUBSTITION. Here’s Juande Ramos’ attempt at turning this game around. Former Liverpool transfer target, Van Der Vaart for Cannavaro.
62mins YELLOW CARD for Marcelo for catching Macherano late on Liverpool’s right touchline.
61mins Alonso’s gone straight down the tunnel for treatment. Hopefully he’ll be alright for Saturday’s trip to Old Trafford.
60mins SUBSTITUION: No, it’s Alonso who makes way for Lucas. Well done, Xabi. The Spaniard has been struggling with a niggle on his ankle since the start of the second half.
58mins Just a few glimpses Real could break through soon in these last few minutes. Reds just need to take shape at the back again. Lucas is coming on in a few minutes – possibly for Mascherano who’s got a bit of a hot head tonight?
57mins Reina brought into action again, taking a low cross well to frustrate Real Madrid. At the other end, Babel collects Reina’s kick and his run down the right frightens Real’s defence, but his cross is dealt with easily.
56mins Mascherano penalised for a foul on the right side, slightly outside the box. Mascherano needs to be careful, he’s on a yellow card.
55mins Raul’s nearly in there, too. Couldn’t quite stretch to meet Diarra’s curling cross from the left side.
54mins Gago comes close with a curling shot from outside the box. Narrowly wide of Reina’s top left hand angle.
53mins Ooooh! Liverpool were lining up to shoot! On the egde of the area, great build up play and finally Gerrard’s shot after a great backheel for Kuyt, but his shot was well saved by Casillas.
52mins Alllllll arrrrrounnd the fields of Anfield Road…
50mins Raul with a shocking miss from a yard out. Sergio Ramos’ cross from the right found Raul who had broken free, and got to the ball ahead of Reina, but sent it miles high. Looked easier just to glance it in with his head.
49mins Gerrard was nearly in there again. Aurelio’s long ball just slightly ahead of Gerrard who would have been in on goal.
47mins Real are stunned. It’s all over now, the Reds are cruising and that was a great finish meeting Babel’s cross from the left. Well done Babel on the wing, too.
46mins GOAL! The perfect start to the second half. Cracking goal from Steven Gerrard on his 100th appearance. Babel’s cross from the left, found Gerrard just inside the egde of the area who’s half-volley beats Casillas emphatically. 3-0!
20:48 Liverpool get the second half underway, shooting towards the Kop.
20:36 Amazing first half football from Liverpool there. Elsewhere in Europe at half-time, it’s Bayern Munich 4-1 Sporting Lisbon (9-1 on aggregate), Juventus 1-1 Chelsea (Essien equalised for Chelsea just before half-time) so that’s 1-2 on aggreate, and Panithinikos 0-0 Villarreal (1-1 agg).
20:33 Mascherano needs to calm down. He’s still raging with the referee as the teams go in for the break about his yellow card for kicking the ball away. Referee sees sense and doesn’t flourish a second.
45mins +2 Half time. That was the best Liverpool performance I’ve seen in ages. Magical football and it could easily be mor than 2-0. Fantastic, Reds.
45mins Liverpool nearly add a third, great build up by the Reds down the right ends up with Kuyt straying slightly offside. Could have been more.
44mins Cracking passing accross field from Liverpool. Torres goes down, but play goes on and Kuyt is given space on the right side of the box. His shot is blocked by Heinze and out for a corner.
43mins YELLOW CARD for Mascherano for dissent. Alonso foul and Mascherano kicked the ball away. Oh dear, poor professionalism by Mascherano screaming at the referee.
43mins Real almost in there. Robben’s cross was met by Sneijder, but good save by Reina.
42mins Real Madrid fans look glum. Thought you’d like to know.
40mins Babel finds Kuyt on the right side of the area with tons of space. But his snap shot is well wide from a wide angle! Poor finish to a good move by the Reds.
39mins Pepe with a late late challenge on Babel on the left touchline, inside the Real half. Pepe’s on a yellow card and Benitez certainly thought that should have been a second.
38mins Sami Hyypia with a great reception from the Kop as he warms up on the touchline.
37mins Carragher called into action. Raul gets the luck of a 50-50 with Skrtel and almost breaks through on Reina’s goal, but Carragher intercepts. Referee calls Raul up for a free-kick for pulling Carra’s shirt anyway though.
36mins Just a bit of a quiet spell now, Real attacking but causing little problems. And Liverpool are forcing them back to their own half well, frustrating the visitors.
34mins Over in Germany, Bayern Munich are 2-0 up against Sporting Lisbon. So that’s 7-0 on aggregate!
33mins I should probably explain, Liverpool’s penalty was caused by Heinze handballing after a cross was chested down from Alvaro Arbeloa. The Argentinian was unlucky, but really, shouldn’t have had his hands up. Tough luck.
31mins What a game by Liverpool. This really is a brilliant performance by the Reds. At the other end, they’re contain Real well. Only Sneijder’s freekick moments ago has troubled Reina.
30mins Sneijder cracks in a fantastic free kick shot from what must be 45 yards. But Pepe Reina is brought into action, turning it round the post. Brilliant save.
29mins ….scores!!! GOAL! Sends Casillas the wrong way and Liverpool are two-nil up on the night and 3-0 up against Real Madrid on aggregate. Fully deserved!
28mins Gerrard….
27mins Penalty to Liverpool! Heinze with a hand ball! YELLOW CARD to Henize!
26mins YELLOW CARD for Steven Gerrard. It was a poor challenge on Sergio Ramos.
25mins Rafa Benite’z name is ringing around the ground.
24mins Liverpool are playing out of their skins. Great passing on the left between Aurelio and Torres puts Torres in on the right side of the area. He twists and turns before crossing in for Gerrard to volley but his shot was saved yet again by Casillas. We really could be 3 or 4 up!
22mins Liverpool free kick on the right hand side (won by Gerrard) is met by the head of Martin Skrtel on the egde of the area. His powerful header heads towards Casilas’ bottom right hand corner, but it was a great save by the Spanish number one.
21mins In Italy, Juventus have just gone 1-0 up against Chelsea. So that’s 1-1 on aggregate and that tie’s wide open.
20mins Just watching replays of that goal. It was great pressure by Torres to allow Pepe to slip up and allow the ball to run for Kuyt.
19mins YELLOW CARD for Pepe – he’s been throwing in poor challenges all game, but this is for persistant dissent.
18mins Anfield is bouncing. A fantastic, strong start has been rewarded with a well made goal from Torres. Kuyt was very unselfish in sliding the ball accross to Torres there. Gerrard was lurking to clear up any mistakes. The Reds were almost queuing up to score!
16mins GOAL! It had been coming and surely that’s the tie over. Great pressure from Liverpool lead to Kuyt being free on the right side of the six-yard box. He rolled it back into Fernando Torres’ path and the Spaniard stuck it into an empty net.
15mins Torres with a fantastic run back from up front to win posession back for Liverpool on the half-way line. Great workrate. Brilliant.
13mins Real Madrid break strongly and find their own spell of pressure inside the Liverpool half. But their Pepe is struggling a bit since clattering with Mascherano a minute ago.
11mins Arjen Robben’s first dive of the game, trying to fool the ref into thinking Carragher had put more pressure on him than he actually had. Twat. Referee didn’t fall for it.
10mins Reds put a good succession of passing together, keeping control of the play and controling the speed of the game.
8mins Scare for Liverpool at the other end, Segio Ramos gets to a crossed free-kick but his header is safely wide and over.
7mins Alonso rolls the free kick to Gerrard who’s low shot goes through the wall, but safely into the hands of Iker Casillas.
7mins More great pressure from Liverpool and good skill by Gerrard on the edge of the area wins a free kicks under pressure from Sneijder. Right on the egde of the D.
5mins What a cracking start by Liverpool! Is that 4 corners already? And we could be one or two up as well. Fantastic start Reds.
4mins The resulting corner is cleared to Mascherano on the edge of the area who’s volley is fantastic and matched by a fantastic save at the top right hand corner of the goal. Cracking volley, cracking save.
3mins Real feeling the pressure, Gerrard’s pass inside found Torres with a fantastic turn on the edge of the area to put him in on goal but Casillas saves well.
2mins Mascherano clattered by Sneijer well inside the Reds half. Awful challenge.
2mins Ryan Babel cuts inside from the left but his shot from 30 yards takes a big deflection and is easy for Casillas to take.
1min Early pressure from Liverpool and Torres wins a corner straight away after a great run. Diarra defends well.
19:45 Real Madrid get the game underway. The Reds are shooting towards the Anfield Road End in the first half. Come on Redmen!!
19:44 Jerzy Dudek got a heroe’s return for Real. He starts on the bench for the visitors. The atmosphere is buzzing!!
19:43 The two teams come out and face the Main Stand to the epic UEFA Champions League theme. Two fantastic line-ups. This could be a cracker. Elsewhere in the Champions League tonight, Bayern Munich take on Sporting Lisbon (agg 5-0), Juventus are at home to Chelsea (agg 0-1) and Panathinaikos vs Villarreal (agg 1-1).
19:41 “You’ll Never Walk Alone” bellows out throughout the stadium, lots of flags as ever, it’s a beautiful sight.
19:37 The atmosphere around the ground is buzzing. Torres and Arbeloa are back and this is a massive night! Can the Reds repeat the heroics of 1981 when Alan Kennedy’s goal beat Real Madrid to help the Reds to the European Cup?
19:29 15 minutes til kick-off and Anfield’s filled up nicely. Let’s hope it’s one of those famous Anfield European nights. It’s a clear evening on Merseyside, temperatures around 6°C.
19:27 So here we go! It’s the start of a make or break week for Liverpool football club, starting wit the crunch visit of Real Madrid. Benayoun’s goal at the Bernabeu two weeks ago means it’s advantage Liverpool, but Real can quite easily spoil the party. Here’s the strong Reds line-up:
Liverpool: Reina, Arbeloa, Carragher, Skrtel, Aurelio, Mascherano, Alonso, Kuyt, Gerrard, Babel, Torres
Subs: Cavalieri, Hyypia, Dossena, Ngog, Lucas, Spearing, Kelly
And the visitors look like this:
Real Madrid: Casillas, Ramos, Cannavaro, Pepe, Heinze, Robben, Lassana Diarra, Gago, Sneijder, Raul, Higuain
Subs: Dudek, Saviola, Marcelo, Guti, Metzelder, Miguel Torres, Van der Vaart
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