Champions League: Liverpool's Conor in the centre of it all

Liverpool’s Conor Bradley shields the ball from Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr during their Champions League match on Tuesday. Pic/Getty Images

Arne Slot's Liverpool put a miserable run behind them with a dominant performance to end Real Madrid's perfect Champions League start with a 1-0 win at Anfield on Tuesday.

Alexis Mac Allister headed in the only goal in the 61st minute, but Madrid were grateful to goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois for keeping the score down.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was met with a hostile reception on his return to Liverpool as a late substitute and the home crowd roared the Reds over the line for what could be a turning point in their season.

Arne Slot

Both sides are now tied on nine points from their opening four games of the league phase.

Liverpool had lost six of their previous eight games in all competitions, but stopped the rot by beating Aston Villa on Saturday as Arne Slot resorted to a more tried and trusted team selection.

Florian Wirtz replaced Cody Gakpo in the only change from the weekend and Liverpool again looked more like the side that stormed to the English Premier League title last season.

"It is easy to say now because we won twice in a row, but in a world of chaos you have to stay calm and see perspective of things. We all know how football works - it can change overnight," said Liverpool skipper Virgin van Dijk, with respect to how they handled the pressure when results went awry.

Right-back Conor Bradley was another standout performer after he successfully nullified the threat of Vinicius Jr, earning high praise from manager Slot.
"Conor was outstanding. It was very nice [to see]. Last season he was outstanding against Real Madrid, but he had to go off after 80 minutes because of an injury. Now, three days after he played 90 minutes against Villa, he again played 90 minutes with incredible intensity against Vinicius,"

Madrid had lost just twice in 20 games since former Liverpool favourite Xabi Alonso took charge, but relied on Courtois to avoid a similar scoreline to their only previous defeat this season - 5-2 at Atletico Madrid.

"Nothing to reproach the team for. It is only the league phase and we can recover these points. We lost due to small details. We lacked threat in the final third," said Madrid boss Xabi Alonso.

Other results
PSG 1-2 Bayern Munich
Arsenal 3-0 Slavia Prague
Juventus 1-1 Sporting CP
Copenhagen 0-4 Tottenham
Atletico Madrid 3-1 Union SG
Napoli 0-0 Frankfurt
Olympiacos 1-1 PSV
Bodo/Glimt 0-1 Monaco

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