Madrid performs the exercise of authority of a king against Liverpool

Here I rule. The king of the Champions League shouted it to another member of European heraldry, like a nobleman grieved by fear at the foot of his battlements. Liverpool felt it to the point of giving up the suicidal burden of those who fight and die for the honour. Madrid, just in case, did not even let him think about it, also winning in this round of eighths with the goal of a wounded gentleman. Benzema didn't need to be who he is to score, because everyone understood who and how they have to represent. The Champions League is his battlefield, in which he only left for the rival the nostalgia of his anthem.

Of the last three clashes with Liverpool, the final in Paris and the first leg at Anfield, this return at the Bernabéu was the one that Madrid faced with the greatest conviction from the start, although the result had nothing to do with the drunkenness of the 2-5 of the first leg. Dominating the game and firm in the duels, he knew how to protect himself against the passage of time that penalized Liverpool through long possessions, and activate for the counter in space, which was how the goal came. In both lots, Kroos emerged imperially, as a kaiser from the midfield. Ancelotti placed Camavinga next to him, in the place where he likes most in the heights, and the Italian knows well that it is better to be at peace with the sky. The Frenchman, certainly, likes and likes, with a powerful physical display, although he still has to improve in the adjustment of the passes. Mistakes in that area are sin.

Against Liverpool sins are usually goals. But Klopp's boys were not the choirboys this time. They didn't believe in its melody. The German was right when he said that at the Bernabeu only he believed in the comeback. Liverpool are scary when they act like those rock bands that leave everything on stage. It needs the frenzy, the utopia, as it has been at other times in its history, the three goals raised in half a part in a Champions League final, precisely against Ancelotti, or against Messi's Barça at Anfield. In Madrid he did not start with that conviction and, instead, found a lot in his rival.

Vinicius Junior helps Mohamed Salah get up.Rodrigo JimenezEFE

There were sins to begin with, venial sins, in this case of Rüdiger, who Liverpool did not take advantage of. Salah hesitated, but was able to give way to Darwin Núñez, who fired the first shot to find Courtois in his place. Klopp lined up Diogo Jota alongside Gakpo as wingers, and Darwin and Salah on the wings. A lot of dynamite, but that is of little use if the wick is not lit. Liverpool did less than expected, as if they wanted to avoid risks and find their options in vertical balls that always looked for Nacho's back for Salah's career. The ugly duckling of Madrid, who Klopp said was the best in Anfiled, had a whole ballot on the right side, since he not only had to face the Egyptian, but the arrivals of Alexander-Arnold, one of the laners with better depth and foot. Stopping Salah, the most active, usually requires help, something that Nacho found in Rüdiger to prevent clear options to the Egyptian. Of those that Darwin Núñez and Gakpo had, in the first half, Courtois was in charge, especially in the second, a very hard shot.

The work of the Belgian was incomparable, however, to that of Alisson, who despaired Vinicius in an intervention of his own handball goalkeeper. The Brazilian had an interesting duel with Alexander-Arnold, the best of Liverpool with his goalkeeper, although his defensive performance does not match his offensive progression. Konaté came to his aid against the Real Madrid stiletto. Alisson was in place in front of shots from Modric and Kroos, and flew in to deflect a shot from Camavinga to the crossbar with his tips stored in gloves. It was the answer to a Madrid very productive in the offensive, but that lacks the set-up of its precision weapon. This is Benzema. He was returning from an injury and was active, rewarded with the winning goal after receiving from a lucky Vini, but without the adjustment that his best version needs. For what comes to Madrid, it is key that he gets it.

Klopp, desperate and admonished, had to do something. He is not one of the types who turns defeat into a tragedy, he knows how to relativize even his profession, but it unnerves him that his team is not identifiable. Darwin and Jota left the field to make way for Firmino and Elliot, although without fruit. Madrid found them in the form of spaces, enough to reach a deserved goal after the exercise of authority of a king who awaits, on Sunday, a classic under a rarefied atmosphere.

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