Liverpool will be caught between a rock and a hard place when they travel to Real Madrid for the 2nd leg of Champions League action Wednesday evening, March 15th. The Reds are down 5-2 on an aggregate and must be ahead of Real Madrid by 3 goals at the end of regulation just to force penalty kicks or four to advance.
Of course, Liverpool could throw numbers in attack in hopes of doing just that and risk being cut to shreds on the counterattack, or they could use a more conventional game plan in an attempt to pick up their first win vs Real Madrid since March 10th, 2009. It will be interesting to see what Jürgen Klopp decides to do.
Real Talk
Real Madrid have already made their plans for the match quite clear. Manager Carlo Ancelotti believes Liverpool will push to score the necessary amount of goals but doesn't expect his team to just sit back and defend.
“The message is clear,” he said. “We don't have to do any calculations, what we have to do is play as well as we can. We have to go into the game in the same way as we did in the first leg. We're not thinking about what could happen, just playing with as much intensity and passion as we can to win the game. We're not going to go into the game thinking that we have the advantage, we'll play an open game of attacking football. I think it'll be an open game because Liverpool are coming here with the intention of turning the tie around.”
An Impossible Task?
No away team has ever erased a three-goal deficit to advance in the Champions League. In fact, the visiting team has only erased a deficit of any kind 5 times during the competition's history. With away goals no longer criteria for advancing, the task will be even tougher. Liverpool did erase a 3-goal deficit in the second leg of the 2018-2019 semi-finals, beating Barcelona 4-0, but that match was played at Anfield.
Giving it A Go
Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold knows it will take a Herculean Effort to defeat Real Madrid by enough goals to advance, but he said the Reds are going to give it their best shot.
“I think there's only one more game before the internationals and it's a huge one for us,” he said. “It's one that we need to go and do something special. We can put everything into that game knowing that we've got days afterward to recover. It's about throwing the kitchen sink at it and going all out."
LFC Gloal Verdict
It would take the miracle of miracles for Liverpool to advance to the next round of the Champions League. Real Madrid have only given up three goals three times this season and that would be the minimum Liverpool would have to score to send the tie to penalties. But then again, the Reds did bang in 7 vs Manchester United earlier this month, so they have the firepower to do it.
But, I don't think they will, having to settle for a 2-2 draw.
Where To Watch
Kickoff is set for 20:00 GMT from Madrid and will air on BT Sport. Due to Daylight Savings Time being implemented, the match is set to kick off an hour earlier in the United States at 16:00 PM EST and the match will steam on Paramount + with a Spanish-Language broadcast on TUDN Canadian viewers can watch the action on DAZN.
A full list of streaming options is available by visiting LFC Globe's live streams page.