Liverpool is like a tough guy against Real Madrid. Last season, Los Blancos lost to The Kop, this time too. If Thibaut Courtois had not been excellent (8 saves), perhaps Real Madrid's net would have been shaken more than once.
Real traveled to Anfield in very good form. They have won all 3 previous rounds in the Champions League, along with 10 wins in 11 La Liga rounds. However, since the 0-4 loss to PSG (FIFA Club World Cup) and 2-5 to Atletico Madrid (La Liga), Xabi Alonso's team has been repeatedly questioned for their mettle. There is a feeling that the "Atletico effect" will appear at any time.
After the most recent victories over Juventus and Barcelona, Real Madrid lost all their matches against Liverpool. Fortunately, the score is only 0-1, otherwise it is uncertain how bad the mentality of Kylian Mbappe and his teammates will be.
Against Liverpool at Anfield, Real Madrid only had 2 shots on target from Federico Valverde and Jude Bellingham. Last season, when they traveled here, they only had 3 shots on target. The common point of both matches is that the pair Vinicius - Mbappe are harmless.
Especially Mbappe when he traveled to Anfield with the 2024-2025 European Golden Boot he just received. Currently, the French striker is leading this race for the 2025-2026 season with Erling Haaland of Man City. However, against Liverpool, Mbappe was almost pushed out of the penalty area by the solidity of the Konate - Van Dijk pair.
Meanwhile, Vinicius could not beat Conor Bradley in all 8 one-on-one encounters, without a single shot on target or creating any dangerous opportunities.
Unlike last season's Real Madrid version, Xabi Alonso's Los Blancos played much more hard against Liverpool in the last match. They have recovered the ball 50 times (twice as many as last season). After the match, Xabi Alonso admitted that the pressure Real Madrid created was not enough.
In addition, experience is what is lacking in the current Real Madrid squad. The young stars who crushed Valencia 4-0 last weekend were completely deadlocked against Liverpool. There are no more legendary veterans like Luka Modrid, Karim Benzema, Toni Kroos, ... names like Alvaro Carreras, Franco Mastantuono or Dean Huijsen with an average age of only 20, too young to put alongside Liverpool's veteran stars.
On a sublime day, young players can do everything and vice versa. They play based on emotion rather than experience and that was never good in the Champions League, an arena that requires courage and experience that is sometimes much more important than form.
The match against Liverpool also revealed many weaknesses in Real Madrid's personnel. Rodrygo was brought on in the second half but did not create any notable plays. From an irreplaceable star in attack, the Brazilian striker is now just a secondary player, having gone 27 matches without scoring. It is also quite difficult to understand why Xabi Alonso did not give young strikers Gonzalo Garcia and Endrick any chance to play.
When Trent Alexander-Arnold and Brahim Diaz came on (after the 80th minute), things could not improve any more. The slow substitution caused Ancelotti to be criticized last season and this season it seems to be repeating to Xabi Alonso.
Looking down at the back of the defense, Alonso understands that without Courtois, everything would be extremely bad. Since the beginning of the season until now, Real Madrid have only kept a clean sheet once, which was a victory over Juventus in the Champions League, but to get that result, everything is still extremely difficult.
