dpa
Berlin
Liverpool maintained their 100% Champions League record with a prestigious 2-0 victory over reigning and record champions Real Madrid who slumped to their third defeat in five matches after both sides failed to convert a penalty on Wednesday.
Alexis Mac Allister’s opened the scoring in the 52nd minute and Cody Gakpo headed the second in the 77th for Liverpool’s first win over Real since 2009.
Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher, the deputy of injured Alisson Becker, saved a penalty from Kylian Mbappe in the 61st, and Mohamed Salah fired wide from the spot at the other end in the 70th.
Salah’s miss didn’t matter in the end as Liverpool are the only team with a maximum 15 points from five matches, and the runaway Premier League leaders have boosted morale for the next big Anfield game on Sunday against struggling domestic champions Manchester City.
“It is a big result. It is a massive result for us. We wanted to come out tonight and put on a performance and well done to the lads for doing that,” Kelleher told TNT Sport.
Real languish in 24th place which is the last spot for a play-off berth.
“It was a fair result. It was a tough game for us. We knew they were in good form. I thought we competed well. It doesn’t change much, because even with a win it was going to be tough to secure a top-eight finish,” Real coach Carlo Acelotti said.
Inter Milan are behind Liverpool on 13 and Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund have 12 each.
Last season’s finalists Dortmund won 3-0 at Dinamo Zagreb from Jamie Gittens, Ramy Besebaini and fit again Serhou Guirassy.
Ten-man Monaco failed to join Inter on 13 points when they fell 3-2 against Benfica for their first defeat, with veteran Angel di Maria setting up Arthur Cabral in the 84th and Zeki Amdouni in the 88th.
Elsewhere, PSV Eindhoven’s Malik Tillman scored in the 87th and 90th minute, and Ricardo Pepi in the fifth minute of stoppage time for an extraordinary 3-2 comeback victory against 10-man Shakhtar Donetsk.
Aston Villa had a last gasp goal from Morgan Rogers disallowed in a 0-0 draw against Juventus, Celtic drew 1-1 with Club Brugge and while finally scoring their first goal of the campaign, Bologna lost 2-1 against Lille.
In the early fixtures, Red Star Belgrade thrashed VfB Stuttgart 5-1 to earn their first points, and so did Sturm Graz who edged Girona 1-0.
Liverpool continue impressive season
Arne Slot’s Liverpool dominated a Real team missing Vinicius Junior from the start but Darwin Nunez was denied three times by goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois before the break.
Mac Allister finally broke the deadlock seven minutes after the restart after a one-two with Conor Bradley.
The 15-time winners Real had a big opportunity to level when Andy Robertson tripped Lucas Vazquez but Kelleher dove to his left to deny Mbappe’s penalty. Kelleher had also saved a penalty, conceded by Robertson as well, on the weekend in Southampton, although the rebound went in there.
“I was confident and thankfully went the right way again,” Kelleher said.
Nine minutes on Salah, who had questioned his Anfield future, also failed from the spot by firing wide left, after being fouled by Ferland Mendy.
Liverpool finally made the game safe when Gakpo headed Robertson’s cross into the right corner to end a run of seven defeats and one draw against Real since a win with the same 2-0 scoreline in 2009.
“You know how special it is to play against a team that has won the Champions League so many times. They were a pain for Liverpool for many years too. It is a big week and it is pleasing to see,” Slot said.
