LIVERPOOL 0 REAL MADRID 3
Final thoughts. So Real show their class and Liverpool can't keep up. That, in itself, is not that surprising. Liverpool started brightly but when they didn't get the early goal that was such a hallmark of their big wins last season they retreated and Cristiano Ronaldo punished them with a brilliant, brilliant finish. Fair enough.
But if you're going to concede three at home to the European champions at least make them work for it and Real next two goals (and in particular the third) were a shambles for Liverpool defensively, and that is becoming the hallmark of Rodgers’ side this season.
Mario Balotelli was hauled off at the break having swapped shirts with Pepe as he left the field (we don’t know whether the two were related). His antics may prove a handy distraction for Rodgers but they are just that: a distraction.
The real problem is seven goals conceded from set pieces in 12 games this season and one clean sheet in 18 games and until they address those issues that then there are many more chastening nights ahead this season.
That’s it from me. Thanks for following the blog and for all your emails. I’ll leave you with Henry Winter’s match report from Anfield. Goodnight.
21.45 Some genuinely good news for Liverpool: It’s finished Ludogorets 1 Basle 0. That keeps things nice and tight in the battle for second spot. Here are all tonight's results ...
Full time: Liverpool 0 Real Madrid 3. Well at least they drew the second half. But Liverpool won’t want to see Cristiano Ronaldo and Co for a long, long time. Bit of shame then that they meet again in 13 days.
90 min: Two minutes of injury time.
89 min: The Real Madrid players aren't even bothered chasing the ball anymore as the Kop break out a somewhat melancholic version of You’ll Never Walk Alone.
"I don't want to rub salt into the wound, but...," says Shane O'Leary. "I really do want to rub salt into the wound because last season was the last chance, for a very long time, for LFC to come top of the heap and the only chance that Brendan 'Mid Table' Rodgers will ever have. Even with every other contender lining up to hand the big silver thing to LFC, they still screwed up and while the wonderfully alliterative Dan Davies makes ten valid points, he missed the eleventh, Rodgers is not a top flight manager."
85 min: Emre Can fires over from distance. I don't think they're even going to get a consolation. I'm not sure they deserve one. 3-0 flatters Liverpool somewhat.
84 min: Ancelotti makes his final change: Nacho is on for Marcelo.
83 min: Arbeloa heads behind when it seemed as if Sterling was going to head home a consolation from Johnson’s cross.
80 min: Toni Kroos gets a 10-minute breather ahead of El Clasico at the weekend. Asier Illarramendi comes on.
79 min: James spreads it wide to Isco but his shot is blocked. Benzema can’t gather but Modric picks up the loose ball and drives a low shot which is saved by Mignolet.
77 min: Real Madrid are knocking the ball around looking for a fourth without being too bothered whether they get it or not. Liverpool's players are charging about in a desperate attempt to show the fans that this is hurting. Neither is a particularly effective strategy.
74 min: Sami Khedira comes on for Cristiano Ronaldo. There seems to be a 50-50 split between the Liverpool fans about whether they should cheer or boo the former Manchester United man. I thought they'd just be glad to see the back of him.
72 min: James (once again) should score. He’s teed up by Benzema, sells Johnson a dummy but rolls his shot wide of Mignolet’s left hand post.
71 min: Chance for Liverpool but Lallana can’t get it under control and the ball ricochets wide.
70 min: Real are mucking about now. Twice in the space of as many minutes James should shoot but doesn’t. Liverpool counter through Can but Varane comes across to sweep the ball off Markovic’s toes. “Rolls Royce defending,” says Martin Tyler. Though a broken down, rusty Morris Minor could succesfully tackle Lazar Markovic.
69 min: Sterling lets fly from the edge of the area. Casillas should catch it easily but claws it over the top.
67 min: Here are the details of that Mario Balotelli half-time shirt swap.
65 min: Double change for Liverpool: Emre Can and Lazar Markovic replace Henderson and Coutinho.
64 min: Ronaldo literally walks through the Liverpool defence and Mignolet makes another save. That’s not a Jamie Redknapp use of the word literally either. He did just walk though the Liverpool defence. He didn’t even have the ball. It was waiting for him on the edge of the six-yard box.
62 min: Martin Skrtel seems content to make up for any deficiencies in Real’s counter-attacking. He loses the ball on the edge of his own area to Ronaldo, who takes a touch and lets fly. Mignolet is nearly knocked over but manages it beat it away.
60 min: At half time Jamie Carragher reckoned if Real get the fourth Liverpool should go into damage limitation mode. It hasn't come to that quite yet. At the moment Liverpool have a lot of the ball but Madrid are terrifying on the counter.
57 min: Lallana has looked lively since coming on - as he has in most games recently. It seemed a mistake to leave him out beforehand. Even more so now.
54 min: It’s got to be four for Real but Benzema, who pulled the ball out of the air brilliantly on the left flank crashing into the touchline mic in the process, chooses the wrong option with his pass, if you could ever say trying to pass to Cristiano Ronaldo is the wrong option.
51 min: Lallana gets in the way of Skrtel’s pass towards Sterling who would have been in on goal. Lallana and Sterling then link up nicely but the former Southampton man can’t get past Pepe.
50 min: Here's that Balotelli moment. The main question is he heas to answer is why he would want Pepe's shirt.
50 min: It’s a basketball game now. Sterling’s cross is headed clear and Lallana's shot is blocked. Real go up the other end but Isco dallies when he should play in James and he loses the ball.
49 min: Real counter but Isco can’t get his shot away after Lovren blocks Marcelo’s cross. James then tries to curl one but his radar is just off.
48 min: It’s a bright start from the Liverpool players though the fans seem resigned to their fate. Coutinho wins a corner on the left. Gerrard takes, Ronaldo heads clear.
Peep! We're underway in the second half. Liverpool are three-down with Raheem Sterling up top on his own. This probably wasn't the plan.
20.47 More good news for Liverpool: Mario Balotelli swapped shirts with Pepe ebfore he'd even left the pitch at half time. It doesn't really matter. He's been hauled off anyway - Adam Lallane is on.
20.40 Good news for Liverpool. They haven't conceded a goal from a set piece in nearly 15 minutes now.
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