One of the most anticipated Champions League matchups is a rematch of last year’s final. Liverpool host Real Madrid at Anfield for the first leg this week. They will then travel to the Santiago Bernabeu for the return leg on March 15th. This will be the ninth time they meet, with Real Madrid not losing this fixture since Liverpool beat them 4-0 back in the 2008/09 season. It seems like these two teams have to meet at least once in the Champions League; recently, they have faced off four times since 2018.

Real Madrid have dominated the overall series in the Champions League, last time being in last year’s final where it was Vinicius who made the difference scoring the only goal in the game. Now Liverpool have another chance to get back at Los Blancos and knock out the current champions in the round of 16. If this tie was played earlier in the season, there would be no question that Real Madrid would be the overarching favorite. 

Just in the last two weeks Liverpool seem to have made a drastic 180-degree turn in the way they are playing. A majority of that being that some of their better players like Virgil van Dijk and Diogo Jota have made their way back to full health. It is also that their two biggest signings this year have found that confidence that was lacking in the final third. Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo each had breakout seasons in the last year and a half and are now looking like the players Liverpool bought during the summer and winter transfer windows.

After their embarrassing 3-0 loss at Wolves, Liverpool returned to Anfield for the Merseyside derby, where they ended up winning 2-0. A great counter-attacking run by Darwin Nunez set up the first goal for Mohamed Salah, then it was Cody Gakpo adding the second goal early in the second half. A week later, the Reds faced fourth-placed Newcastle at St. James’ Park for a chance to close the gap between the two clubs in the Premier League table. Again it was Darwin Nunez involved in the action as he gave Liverpool the lead in the 10th minute. Seven minutes later it was Cody Gakpo again scoring for Liverpool, his second goal in back-to-back weeks.

A much needed turnaround for Liverpool because of the run of form Real Madrid has been on in all competitions. Madrid have won their last four games, two in the league and two for the Club World Cup that handed them another trophy for their collection. However, it will be important to see how Karim Benzema looks and moves around against Liverpool. He has been in and out of the lineup, most recently not playing at all against Osasuna this past weekend. 

Overall, this is a huge two games for Liverpool because this could be a major turning point for their season. After defeating Newcastle, the gap between them and fourth placed Tottenham is now only seven points with Tottenham having played two more games than Liverpool. Assuming they win those two games, they’d only be a point behind being in a Champions League spot for next season. And knocking out the current Champions in Real Madrid could provide a major spark for this team that had pundits and other people giving up on them after the World Cup.