He might be the first former Manchester United great to be applauded off Anfield by part of the home support and there are not many opposing players who cross the touchline here to have their hand shaken by the Liverpool manager. But then this is Cristiano Ronaldo, who strolled to his seat on the bench on 75 minutes with the insouciance of a man popping out for a paper.
Business as usual for the world’s best, and goal No 70 in the Champions League that puts him within one of Raul’s record in the competition. He had never scored at Anfield before last night and he will doubtless file his goal, his 21 of the season, along with the hundreds of others. For Brendan Rodgers and his Liverpool players it might be that much harder to consign to history.
It was a bad night for Liverpool back in the Champions League big-time, an occasion when they found themselves hopelessly out of their depth in defence in the first half and then, three goals down by the break, unable to do anything to remedy the situation. Each one of Madrid’s substituted players was applauded off by the home crowd, including the marvellous Toni Kroos, but this was not an extraordinary performance from the away team. It was, nonetheless, more than enough to beat Liverpool.
They looked very ordinary, as they had against Queen’s Park Rangers on Sunday, and matters were not helped by another Mario Balotelli performance to forget. His half-time shirt-swap with Pepe, a preface to his substitution, was a moment to make every Liverpool fan cringe, but that was a detail to the bigger picture. That, unfortunately for Rodgers, is that without the injured Daniel Sturridge, this is a team that lacks a sharp edge in attack.
