Liverpool Finally crush Courtois Against Real Madrid in thrilling Anfield night to continue European dominance
Liverpool’s last two Champions League heartbreaks couldn’t have been more different when it came to goalkeeping drama.
Back in 2018, it was Loris Karius who had a nightmare against Real Madrid, a night that sadly came to define his entire Liverpool career.
All the doubts and criticism that had been following him for months came crashing down in that final, right when everything mattered most.
Fast forward four years, and the story flipped completely. Thibaut Courtois turned into a wall in Paris — the kind of night goalkeepers dream of.
As Klopp jokingly said later, the guy seemed to have twelve hands. No matter what Liverpool threw at him, he stopped everything.
Arne Slot seems to have the solution to a problem Liverpool had for over ten years, but those are not demons that can be banished in the games that make up this lengthy Champions League group phase.
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Liverpool played Real Madrid eight times in four different Champions League rounds between October 2014 and March 2023, but they never prevailed.
Slot has defeated them without giving up a single point in back-to-back seasons.
And a year later, the faltering English champions began their journey to rediscovery with a well-earned victory over the early leaders in La Liga, whereas last year it was the dominant Premier League leaders defeating the second-best team in Spain.
Conor Bradley excelled without even needing to clatter Kylian Mbappe, and Alexis Mac Allister even returned to his role as an unexpected goal scorer.
This time, Vinicius Junior was scythed both spiritually and mentally at Anfield. Bradley won the fight, the war, and almost every tackle.
The Real Madrid forward’s booking for dragging the Liverpool defender back on a swift breakaway may have summed up their match the finest.
The ten-minute cameo given to Trent Alexander-Arnold, whose every move was mocked, only served to highlight Bradley’s outstanding performance.
His final action was an aimless stoppage-time cross into an unmanned penalty area that eventually trickled out for a throw-in to thunderous applause.
Even though Alexander-Arnold stated prior to the match that “it was destined for this fixture to come,” Real appeared completely unprepared for it.
Particularly in a second half that Liverpool dominated, their performance was oddly fragmented.
They were only kept in it for so long by “that Guy” Courtois, who saved them from Hugo Ekitike, Virgil van Dijk, and Dominik Szoboszlai like Mo Salah at the Stade de France.
Driven by an uncommon and powerful degree of gorgeous pettiness, Courtois carried on his fight for greater “respect” in England with a display of defiance that must have caused some people to experience agonising flashbacks.
However, it had to be that Liverpool realised the potential of what many of their peers had mocked and mocked for weeks during this especially absurd Premier League season.
Despite winning fifteen European Cups, Real Madrid is unable to stop a brilliant in-swinging free kick that landed precisely on 5’9″ Mac Allister’s head.
God’s assistance was Real’s only hope. Or at least VAR, which confirmed that Mac Allister had perfectly timed his run.
The visitors may have used up their fair share of luck in the first half when Liverpool had a free-kick checked for a penalty after a Szoboszlai shot bounced off Aurelien Tchouameni’s arm and out for what may have possibly been a corner but was ultimately lowered to a Real drop ball.
Liverpool didn’t require that quality. This was their best performance of the season—confident, calm, and focused.
Controlling one of the world’s best teams with such certainty was a significant step forward, even if the victory over Aston Villa was a tentative one.
Andy Robertson’s presence seems to have calmed the defence. The bite and vigour in midfield are back. On the left, Florian-Wirtz was impressive.
Additionally, the game was expertly handled throughout. “We play that game and we shoot every three minutes on their goal but their keeper has 12-hands and then they score that goal and we talk afterwards about the one mistake where we could have defended better,” Klopp remarked in his criticism of the outstanding Courtois.
Because Bradley shut Vinicius down so completely and because Liverpool hardly made a mistake even after gaining their breakthrough, history never came close to repeating itself.
Liverpool may celebrate recovering from a real crisis to shed even more of their chronic historical inferiority mentality, even though this will never truly reflect retribution for the anguish suffered on much larger stages against this squad and these players.
