MADRID, March 16 – Real Madrid booked their place in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals on Wednesday night with a 1-0 home win against Liverpool, giving them a 6-2 on aggregate win.
Karim Benzema scored Madrid’s goal in the 79th minute after the ball fell nicely to him in the Liverpool penalty area, and his team never seemed in any danger of relinquishing their 5-2 first-leg lead.
Both teams had chances in an entertaining first half but Madrid made the best of them and were it not for Alisson’s heroics in Liverpool’s goal, the tie would have been dead and buried long before Benzema’s goal.
The Brazilian blocked Vinicius Jr’s shot spectacularly. The striker reached the far post unmarked to receive a cross from very close, but the goalkeeper stuck out his arm to clear the reflex.
Alisson then deflected Eduardo Camavinga’s shot from outside the box after James Milner had misdirected it.
Luka Modric finished off narrowly and Alisson denied Vinicius again, although this time with the flag raised for offside and Madrid threatened to overwhelm their rivals.
At the other end, Thibaut Courtois pulled off two saves to deny Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo as Liverpool looked to react, though Alisson had to make another routine save from Toni Kroos before the half-time whistle.
There was no change at half-time and Alisson sprang into action to deny Federico Valverde, who finished clean after an Andrew Robertson error.
Valverde then headed wide and Real continued to threaten, with Benzema firing over a pass from Vinicius when normally he would have at least put his effort on target.
The Frenchman made no mistake from point-blank shortly afterwards, when the ball kindly fell to Vinicius for him to play from the ground and finish off on an empty goal.
