LIVERPOOL showed signs of recovery tonight as they outplayed and defeated Real Madrid 1-0 at Anfield in a UEFA Champions League clash.
The English Premier League champions ended a spell of six defeats in seven games with a win against Aston Villa on Saturday, and the revival continued as Real Madrid were dominated.
Liverpool’s victory was far more convincing than the scoreline suggests, with Alexis Mac Allister finally breaking the deadlock in the second half as former Reds defender Trent Alexander-Arnold watched from the bench with his new side strictly second best.
Only the brilliance of Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois kept Liverpool at bay, with a string of superb saves, including four from Dominik Szoboszlai and a brilliant reflex stop from Virgil van Dijk’s header.
Courtois was powerless to stop Liverpool finally getting the goal their superiority deserved when Mac Allister stole in to head home from Szoboszlai’s free-kick after 61 minutes.
Alexander-Arnold came on late in the game, amid a storm of booing from the Liverpool fans who once idolised him, but he was unable to fashion a breakthrough as Real – with Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe subdued – unable to deny Slot’s team an important three points.
Also tonight, Bayern Munich beat Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 in Paris, handing the champions their first defeat of the season in all competitions.
Luis Diaz scored both goals for Bayern Munich but got sent off in first-half stoppage time as the German champions won their 16th straight game in all competitions.
In London, 10-man Tottenham Hotspur produced a dream Champions League performance, including a wonder goal from centre-half Micky van de Ven, as they thrashed Copenhagen 4-0 to maintain their unbeaten start in the competition.
Goals from Brennan Johnson and Wilson Odobert put Spurs two up and looked to have killed the game, before Johnson was shown a straight red card for sliding in and catching Marcos Lopez’s ankle.
But even though they only had 10 players on the pitch, Van de Ven scored one of the goals of the season. He picked up the ball inside his own half and stormed down the pitch, dribbling past four Copenhagen players before providing a finish any centre-forward would have been delighted with.
Spurs had been booed off the pitch by their supporters following their dismal 1-0 loss to Chelsea at the weekend, but fans were on their feet applauding throughout the second half as Joao Palhinha made it 4-0 when unmarked following good work from Cristian Romero.
It nearly got even better for Tottenham, when they were awarded an injury-time penalty, only for Richarlison to fail to convert the chance by firing the spot-kick against the crossbar.
The victory means Tottenham have eight points from their four Champions League games, with two wins and two draws.
There were also wins for Atletico Madrid, who beat Union Saint-Gilloise 3-1 in Spain, and Monaco, who defeated Bodo/Glimt 1-0 in Norway, while Juventus drew 1-1 at home to Sporting Lisbon.
RESULTS
Slavia Prague 0-3 Arsenal
Napoli 0-0 Frankfurt
Atletico Madrid 3-1 Union St Gilloise
Bodo/Glimt 0-1 Monaco
Juventus 1-1 Sporting Lisbon
Liverpool 1-0 Real Madrid
Olympiacos 1-1 PSV Eindhoven
PSG 1-2 Bayern Munich
Tottenham 4-0 FC Copenhagen
With agency report