On Tuesday night, Liverpool smacked seven shades of shit out of Real Madrid. Yep, Real Madrid. The 4-0 result (5-0 on aggregate) will reverberate around Europe, possibly even more so than Bayern Munich’s 7-1 massacre of a hapless Sporting Lisbon. Fernando Torres scored his first goal of the Champions League this season with a close range finish from Dirk Kuyt’s dragback, making sure that the visiting Madrelinos were well aware of who had drawn first blood in the second leg of this Last 16 tie. Steven Gerrard, appearing in his 100th Champions League game for Liverpool, scored the second from the penatly spot, after the referee and his assistant had wrongly adjudged Gabriel Heinze to have handled the ball in his own box. The third goal also came from Gerrard’s boot – a superlative finish to round off a move which he had started near the penalty spot. His first-time half-volley from Ryan Babel’s cross crashed into the back of the net, leaving iker Casillas with no chance at all. When Andrea Dossena side-footed into the net in the 88th minute to make it four (read that: four!) nil, the Spanish number one was reduced to tears of frustration.

This was Madrid’s heaviest defeat in European competition since 1989, when the Milan side of Arrigo Sacchi thwacked them 5-0. Tonight could have been far, far worse had it not been for Casillas’ heroics. Rafael Benitez must take much of the credit, showing his former employers exactly what they were missing. Whether Liverpool can go all the way to European glory under this much-maligned genius remains to be seen, but for now Liverpool fans all over the world will be basking in the warm afterglow of a superlative performance.

Man of the Match: Javier Macherano – Provided the assist for Dossena’s goal. His relentless running ensured that Madrid never had time to pause and catch their breath, while his tackling was exceptional

Posted by Fukitol on Tuesday, March 10th, 2009 at 9:46 pm.