Real Madrid tries to avoid Liverpool comeback in Champions League

Real Madrid got used to pulling off dramatic comebacks in the Champions League last season. Now it needs to avoid one to keep its title defense going.

It will be Liverpool needing to do something magical at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium on Wednesday to reverse a 5-2 loss from the first leg in the round of 16.

It definitely won’t be easy — no away team has ever erased a three-goal loss from the first leg in the Champions League. Only five times the team that lost at home rallied in the second leg, with Manchester United the only one to overcome a two-goal deficit in a round-of-16 matchup against Paris Saint-Germain in 2019.

Liverpool did manage a huge comeback at home in the 2019 semifinals, rallying against another Spanish club, Barcelona.

It had lost 3-0 at the Camp Nou before pulling off a 4-0 win in the second leg at home to keep alive a run that eventually ended with the team winning the trophy.

Only three other teams overcame a deficit of three or more goals — Barcelona, Roma and Deportivo La Coruña.

“We need to go and do something special,” Liverpool defender Trent Alexander-Arnold said. “It’s about throwing the kitchen sink at it and going all out.”

Madrid, which beat Liverpool in last season’s final for a record-extending 14th European title, pulled off thrilling comebacks on its way to that final, rallying from behind against PSG in the round of 16, Chelsea in the quarterfinals and Manchester City in the semifinals.

Madrid also rallied against Liverpool in the first leg this season after going down 2-0 in the first half in England, eventually building its comfortable three-goal advantage with two goals each by Vinícius Júnior and Karim Benzema. Éder Militão also scored for Madrid at Anfield.

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