Cristiano Ronaldo breaks Anfield duck as Real Madrid run riot against sorry Reds
Real Madrid had never scored against Liverpool. Cristiano Ronaldo had never scored at Anfield. Until Wednesday. Three first half goals from a clinical Madrid side killed off any hopes of another famous European night on Merseyside and set Carlo Ancelotti's men up perfectly for Saturday's showdown with Barcelona at the Bernabeu.
Another rousing edition of You'll Never Walk Alone looked like a statement of Liverpool's intent, a theory which gained weight when Jordan Henderson crashed into Ronaldo, who was booed every time he received the ball, within seconds of the game starting. The only problem, though, was that Ronaldo wasn't listening to the warnings. Or, indeed, the boos.
It had to be the former Manchester United forward who opened the scoring here and it was. He latched on to a pass from James Rodriguez and expertly placed the ball into Simon Mignolet's top corner before racing off to slide on his knees in front of the home supporters. Madrid's curse had been lifted and the floodgates were about to open.
Karim Benzema added two more before the first half ended and, despite chances at both ends, that is how it remained.
It's certainly surprising that Madrid had never scored against Liverpool before, especially considering the two teams account for 15 European Cups between them. However, they'd only met three times prior to this and the English side had won to nil on each occasion - including a 4-0 success at Anfield in 2009.
Ancelotti was without Gareth Bale and Sergio Ramos for this game, although he was able to replace them with the quality of Isco and Raphael Varane. In hindsight, the absence of Daniel Sturridge from the home team sheet was more significant, with his spot filled by the misfiring Mario Balotelli, who was hauled off at the break.
Steven Gerrard tested Iker Casillas from distance early on; by the next time Madrid's keeper would see the ball they would have a three goal lead.
If the first, Ronaldo's 70th goal in the competition, leaving him one short of Raul's record, was unstoppable, the next two were both preventable. Benzema's first goal was a perfectly looped header back across goal from a fine Toni Kroos cross, however Mignolet had failed to clear the initial danger with a sloppy punch.
Ten minutes later the Belgian keeper was again caught out. Another Kroos cross, this time from a corner, another failed punch and another Madrid goal as Benzema bundled the ball home from a couple of yards out.
Joe Allen would drop a shot just wide before the break and Philippe Coutinho would rattle the post from some way out, but there never seemed to be a belief among the Liverpool players that they could produce a come back.
It was against a Carlo Ancelotti side, AC Milan, in 2005 that they had produced their most famous Champions League moment, coming from 3-0 down at half time to win their fifth European Cup on penalties. There was to be no repeat of that here, though, and Madrid will have been grateful for the relaxed nature of the second half considering what they've got to come this weekend.
Ronaldo, like Lionel Messi and Neymar on Tuesday night, was taken off with time to spare, no doubt with Barca in mind. Kroos was also afforded a rest and there was a return to competitive action for Sami Khedira.
Positives were few and far between for Liverpool, however, and, aside from Raheem Sterling running with the ball, they looked bereft of ideas.
These are the nights they've signed up for, but it was not the result they had in mind.
