Real Madrid-Liverpool The Champions enlightens Vinicius

It is advisable not to bet against Madrid when the Champions League anthem sounds, which is the soundtrack of his life. In a way, the game was that troubled river in which Liverpool usually fish a lot, but it was closer to the trickle that Boluda dreamed of than the danger that was presumed on the eve. Madrid had an imperial air in the first half and endured the exchange of blows in the second to bring good savings to Anfield. It happened on the night that Vinicius had the goal, the gift that he lacked to break in the very first figure.

Madrid woke up startled with the COVID of Varane, the last healthy supercentral of the duel. Fate decided that this meeting between two of the great European royal houses would be played without barriers, with the majority of temporary defenses. The mishap also nullified any temptation by Zidane, if any, to protect himself with three centrals. This option forced to pull Marcelo, who these large parties have run over in recent times.

So Madrid changed vertigo for vertigo, trident for trident. At the end of the day, this plan has given Zidane three Champions, the competition in which Madrid usually cleanse sins and conscience.

A white start

Klopp didn't look back either. Better Diogo Jota in motion than Firmino to start. Keita's physics better than Thiago's chemistry. Liverpool win their matches by the jerk procedure: steal early, resolve early. A hyperactive pressure, with up to ten players in the opposite field. Only if the front is broken do your legs shake. But one thing is the flight manual and another is planning on the Champions League, where even the most daring know that survival begins by not being wrong. And his team was a chain of nonsense.

The party woke up wrapped in prudence. Casemiro glued to the centrals; Alexander-Arnold and Robertson, assault wingers, confined to their field; Keita and Wijnaldum, very content. An academic beginning, at the height of the event. That precaution that makes all games look suspiciously alike, that everything seems to have been seen and experienced in football. Vinicius soon escaped from that routine, the unexpected footballer, enterprising to the point of stubbornness, always a surprise although not always pleasant. That's where Madrid got into the game.

The Brazilian found spaces, stretched the team, became a threat. And Madrid dominated the start in their style, making numbers, attacking little and tolerating nothing. The minimalism of someone who is short on goal until Vinicius slipped through the back door with a spectacular goal. Kroos gave him a 40-meter pass, but the play still had crumbs: the Brazilian controlled with his chest between Phillips and Alexander-Arnold, put an acceleration and finished off on the fly to the net with an expertise he is not used to. The accolade that Madrid needed to take to the mountains.

The goal convinced him that Liverpool have lost their teeth (Salah, Mané …) and that is what their latest results say. And that Zidane's three-time champion Madrid still has a long way to go. That propensity of the 'reds' to shoot each other's feet in these encounters also helped. Alexander-Arnold pretended to interrupt a pass from Kroos and gave the second goal to Asensio. And Kabak offered him the third in another ghastly blunder. He saved that the ball fell on the right of the Balearic. This was full of Karius. Klopp's defense was a joke. And its center of the field, an ornament. He didn't even wait until half-time to put Thiago in. It was one of those punishment changes that technicians apply when the world collapses at their feet: one in the shower and ten warned.

The 'red' reaction

The team took for granted. The Liverpool we met came back from break. He squeezed, stole early, locked up Madrid and had the fortune to score right away. A shot by Diogo Jota intercepted by the white defense fell to Salah. I do not forgive. First shot and first English goal. The greats always have that.

Partially suppressed the fire, Madrid returned to the point where it had left it: a slow, patient dominance, waiting for the gap or the error. Almost all of them joined the assault, with the danger of uncovering themselves behind. But Liverpool continued to appear as an inattentive team, somehow distracted, without the tension of the event. Otherwise it is not explained that he ended up conceding the third goal after a throw-in. Vinicius was there to penalize him.

This time Madrid did better the accounts. It was beginning to suit him that less things would happen now. That's why Valverde entered, the extra battery in the center of the field. So he decided to take refuge in the ball, hide it from Liverpool, waltz into the game. Klopp made one last attempt with Shaqiri and Firmino, with Fabinho as central, and looked for Mané and Salah for the first time, but this glorious Madrid that Zidane stretches like bubblegum had plenty of office to resist. Liverpool still have Anfield left, but this time they will have to walk alone.