By Tom Finn
October 23, 2014
Perhaps last night 0-3 loss at Anfield to Real Madrid will be a wake up call for Liverpool and help to put into perspective exactly where the Reds stand on the world stage.
The hosts started the match well with a pace we came to expect last season as they challenged for the Premiership title, but had yet to see during this seasons campaign, and despite all the fast paced attacking they were still missing the injured Daniel Sturridge and the now Barcelona player Luis Suarez to put the ball in the net.
Los Blancos soaked up the early threat and struck back with a brilliant opener when Colombian James provided a chipped pass to allow Cristiano Ronaldo to half valley a shot pass the helpless Mignolet in order to open the scoring.
It was not long before the Spaniards added the second after Liverpool defender Glen Johnson fell asleep at the back post allowing Karim Benzema a free header for Madrid’s second of the night, and yet another example of Liverpool’s poor defending that we have seen in almost every match this season.
The match was put to bed in the 41st minute when Benzema scrambled a goal from a Madrid corner after Mignolet had made a dogs dinner of trying to catch the ball.
Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli once more failed to have an impact on the game and his swapping of shirts with Pepe at halftime did not go down well with the Liverpool fans either, who have expected more from the Italian striker.
In the nights other Group B match things went well for Liverpool with Bulgarian side Ludogorets beating Basel 1-0 to put all three clubs on three points.
Liverpool remain a club still in the building process, and while being in the Champions League is a great achievement it is obvious that they are still not ready to compete with the big boys of Europe.
