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Liverpool delivered a vital boost to its campaign with a 1-0 triumph against Real Madrid in Tuesday's Champions League encounter at Anfield.
A second-half header from Alexis Mac Allister proved decisive in a match where visiting goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois produced a series of outstanding saves to prevent a heavier defeat. Former Liverpool star Trent Alexander-Arnold was loudly booed by the home fans on his return to Merseyside as a Madrid player; he came on late in the game but couldn't turn the result in his new team's favor.
National media representatives were present to offer their expert assessments of the game. Here, we have rounded up their take on proceedings.
The Telegraph - Chris Bascombe
"Real Madrid were kryptonite to Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool. They appear to be rocket fuel for Arne Slot.
"Klopp’s great Anfield side could never get past Los Blancos, the Champions League final defeats of 2018 and 2022 the most painful of the German’s reign on Merseyside.
"A mauling in the knockout round of 2023 triggered the end of an era, confirming that the foundations of Klopp’s European and Premier League triumphs had crumbled. Slot has now won consecutive fixtures against the Spanish giants in familiar style. Not even Thibaut Courtois repeating the heroics of the final three years ago could deny Liverpool a deserved victory.
"If the latest success is the catalyst it proved to be 12 months ago, those who have been gleefully predicting Liverpool’s demise on the back of their poor October will be as exhausted with despondency as they were last season. The terrors of Hallowe’en may already be over at Anfield. This was more fitting of an imminent bonfire night, Anfield ablaze with the spark of last season."
Daily Mail - Oliver Holt
"Outside Anfield, the fireworks sputtered and died in the teeming rain. Inside Anfield, it was a place for the rocket’s red glare and bombs bursting in air. It was a place of roars and frenzy and chanting for Stevey Heighway on the wing and for Conor Bradley, for heroes old and new. It was raw and it was visceral.
"And when it was done and the mighty Real Madrid had been vanquished and this old stadium had delivered another passion play on another memorable European night under the lights, Liverpool’s season felt alive again, alive with possibility and hope and ambition.
"The rocket came from Alexis Mac Allister a bullet of a header that whizzed past the head of Thibaut Courtois so fast and so furiously that he did not even have time to duck. It was a goal that was a fitting way to gild a Liverpool performance that revived memories of the relentlessness of the Jurgen Klopp era."
The Times - Paul Joyce
"By the time Trent Alexander-Arnold finally emerged from the cold storage of the Real Madrid substitutes’ bench and stepped over the whitewash, Anfield had other things on its mind.
"He was jeered of course. Every time he touched the ball as it turned out for the 13 or so minutes he was on the pitch, but the home crowd were also intent upon singing for their own. Players such as Dominik Szoboszlai, in looks and talent every inch a Galactico, Conor Bradley, who kept Vinicius Junior in check throughout, and also manager Arne Slot.
"And so the day ended in much the same way as it had begun. A clean-up operation outside the ground after vandalism to Alexander-Arnold’s mural ahead of his return had moved inside as night fell with Liverpool’s breathless determination to wash away the mess of recent weeks obvious in every tackle, shot and chase of a lost cause.
"There is plenty to salvage this season for Slot and his players."
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