Liverpool claimed the top spot in the Champions League on Wednesday with a 2-0 victory over reigning champions Real Madrid, thanks to goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo.
The win, their fifth in five matches, puts the Reds two points clear in the revamped league format.
Despite a rare penalty miss from Mohamed Salah, Liverpool’s dominance never wavered. Real Madrid, now languishing in 24th place in the 36-team competition, endured a difficult night.
Kylian Mbappé, tightly marked throughout, also squandered a chance to level the score with a missed penalty in the second half.
Mac Allister broke the deadlock in the 52nd minute after a slick exchange with Conor Bradley, sending the Kop into raptures at Anfield. Gakpo doubled the lead in the 76th minute, heading home from an Andy Robertson cross to seal the win.
Reflecting on the game, Mac Allister expressed his delight, “When you play against teams like Real Madrid, it’s always nice to score, but the most important thing is that we won it, and I think in a really good way,” he said. “We dominated the game, we deserved this.”
The result continues Liverpool manager Arne Slot’s impressive run, with the team maintaining a perfect Champions League record and sitting atop the Premier League. This victory also ended a long winless streak against Real Madrid, dating back to 2009.
Caoimhín Kelleher, whose crucial penalty save against Mbappé electrified the crowd, acknowledged the significance of the result, “It’s a big result, it was a massive game for us. Obviously, they got the better of us the last few times in the Champions League so we wanted to come out here tonight and put on a performance,” Kelleher said.
On his penalty save, he added, “I don’t really look at the player too much, I was confident and thankfully I went the right way again.”
The new format sees the top eight teams advance directly to the last 16, while the next 16 will compete in a two-legged playoff to join them.
