Real Madrid clashes with Liverpool again. For the fourth time in 5 years, the Reds haven’t won once. Will they break it?

The Champions League semi-final draw has brought some interesting opponents together. One of the most watched duels will be a replay of last year’s final between Liverpool and Real Madrid. For the Reds, this is definitely not a favourite opponent.

Real Madrid and Liverpool have clashed very often in recent years. They met in the 2017/18 Champions League final, in the quarter-finals of the 2020/21 LM and in the final of the same competition in 2021/22.

And the fourth encounter will come in the Champions League eighth-finals 2022/23. If we look further back in history, the two teams still faced each other in the 2014/15 LM group stage.

The problem, however, is that Liverpool failed to win either of those matches. In 2014, Real Madrid won 3: 0 and 1: 0 respectively. The 2018 Champions League final was very inglorious for the Reds, when they lost 1: 3 after two blunders by Loris Karius.

In the quarter-finals in 2021, Real clearly dominated the first leg 3: 1, with the rematch ending 0: 0. The last meeting so far, last year’s final, ended with Los Blancos winning 1: 0.

For Liverpool, this is definitely not a favourite opponent. Moreover, Jürgen Klopp’s team is in a bad way at the moment. However, there is still plenty of time until February, so the team can be fine-tuned a lot, and the winter transfer period will certainly help.

Real Madrid have the home advantage in the return leg. We saw the power of the Santiago Bernabéu last season in the Champions League, when Benzema and co. turned around an unfavourable scoreline at home and against PSG, Chelsea and Manchester City it worked every time.

But this is definitely the most exciting and most watched game of the eighth round. Only Bayern Munich and PSG come close to this match in terms of attractiveness.

Source: UEFA