How Liverpool’s tactical naivety against Real Madrid led to unthinkable collapse

Watching Liverpool in last night's 5-2 collapse at the hands of Real Madrid, you could be forgiven for thinking Jurgen Klopp's side had no prior experience of a two-legged European tie.

That, of course, is far from the truth. Liverpool's record in European competition under Klopp is exemplary. They reached the Europa League final in 2016, then the Champions League final in 2018, 2019 and 2022. They lost three of those four finals, but are evidently excellent at getting through two-legged ties.

Still, they've often progressed through chaos rather than control.

Think of their journeys to the finals, and you recall the 5-4 aggregate win over Borussia Dortmund in 2016, the 7-6 aggregate win over Roma in 2018, the miraculous comeback to win 4-3 against Barcelona in 2019, and perhaps the 6-4 win over Benfica from last season.

But it sometimes feels like Liverpool only have one gear. They can only play heavy metal football. There's no capacity for slowing the tempo of a match and asserting their dominance calmly. Last night, that cost them.

More from The Athletic on Liverpool's collapse at Anfield…

In the early days of Klopp's battles with Pep Guardiola in English football, the games took a familiar pattern. Liverpool came flying out of the traps, raced into an early lead, then couldn't sustain that tempo and City gradually played their way into the game. In more recent times, it feels like Liverpool and City's styles have converged, and Klopp's side had become more patient.

But last night's performance against Real was back to the old days: a storming opening to the game, and then an unthinkable collapse.

At 2-0 up, Liverpool played like they were 2-0 down. Against the counter-attacking threat of Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo, the intelligent movement of Karim Benzema and the relentless running of Federico Valverde, Klopp's side continued to throw men forward into attack.

Here's an example of both full-backs, Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, committing themselves to attack with the score at 2-0. In this situation, at least the midfield trio are in position to guard against any counter-attacks. That wouldn't always be the case.

After Vinicius Jr got Real back into the game with an excellent goal out of nothing, Liverpool kept on coming. Here's Alexander-Arnold drilling a crossfield ball over to Robertson, winding up for a spectacular volley. Top marks for the ambition, but the consequence was Vinicius Jr bursting into space down the left, the full-backs nowhere to be seen. He didn't quite get the final ball right.

Klopp's approach, of course, is about risk and reward — and it would be churlish not to commend Liverpool's approach when things go well.

Here's another example of Liverpool's full-backs being high — in fact, nine outfielders are in this first screenshot. Liverpool have just conceded possession — but with team-mates helping to crowd the space around the ball, Cody Gakpo charges towards Nacho, wins possession on the edge of the box, and Liverpool get themselves into a promising situation.

This is a classic counter-press, precisely what Klopp wants from his side.

But, then again, Liverpool didn't make the most of that opportunity, and Vinicius Jr was again allowed to counter-attack into space. For clarity, Virgil van Dijk is out of shot to the right, ready to intervene. And you can't fault the determination of his team-mates to get back. Besides, Vinicius Jr eventually trips over the ball.

But this is evidently a ludicrous situation for a side 2-1 ahead to get themselves into, and Liverpool's approach contributed to a back-and-forth game, which allowed Real to get back in it.

At times, Liverpool tried to be mature. The closest they came to a third goal, a scrappy situation involving Mohamed Salah and Darwin Nunez, came after a rare spell of possession play in midfield, with Fabinho and Stefan Bajcetic swapping passes in midfield, building a move slowly.

But at other times, Liverpool's lack of tactical awareness was staggering.

Here's an example of Jordan Henderson winning possession in midfield and dribbling forward. Salah and Nunez, the two wide players, are preparing to sprint forward.

Henderson plays a pass into Bajcetic, but Eduardo Camavinga reads his intention, and intercepts. Liverpool's move has lasted precisely zero passes. Real Madrid have regained possession immediately after they lost it. For all Liverpool's emphasis on their own counter-pressing, they constantly allow the opposition to give them a taste of their own medicine.

And because Liverpool's forwards had been starting their attacking transition, they're not in a position to get back and help defend.

Liverpool's defence and midfield are in place, but this is like watching Paris Saint-Germain — a 4-3-0 shape. Real work the ball into Valverde, who fires over. It's not a brilliant chance, but Liverpool shouldn't have got themselves into this situation about ten seconds after winning possession in midfield.

And even Real's equaliser — yes, a freak goal — came from a lack of patience.

Bajcetic tries to turn forward when he could have played a simple sideways pass. He turns into traffic, and Liverpool lost the ball. Alisson's error is obvious. But it's worth pointing out that he was actually trying to play a positive forward pass, probably into Alexander-Arnold, when a simple ball to three other defenders was on. It wasn't a risk worth taking.

By this point, it was 2-2, and maybe there was more call for taking a risk.

But even in this situation, a direct free-kick, Liverpool seemed naive. Alexander-Arnold was always going to shoot from this position; a cross would have been impossible. And yet Liverpool felt the need to push both Van Dijk and Gomez, both highlighted, forward to the edge of the opposition box. Why? Were they expecting this ball to be crossed? Would they be better goal poachers than Nunez, Salah and Gakpo if Thibaut Courtois parried the ball back into play? As Courtois catches the ball, Liverpool's centre-backs are the two players — on either team — closest to the goal.

And what happens? Courtois throws the ball out, Vinicius Jr attacks into space down the left again, and nearly squares for a Rodrygo tap-in. Van Dijk, who might have been defending the precise space Rodrygo runs into, is still chasing back in midfield. Only a superb last-ditch tackle from Robertson prevents Liverpool going in 3-2 down at the break.

Things spiralled out of control after half-time, of course. Liverpool defended a wide free-kick badly and went 3-2 down. They were unfortunate with Benzema's deflected goal for the fourth, and then completely collapsed and left their centre-backs exposed again for the fifth.

The expected goals numbers would suggest Real were fortunate to score five. But the expected goals numbers only take account of shots. They don't explain that Vinicius Jr was allowed to counter-attack three times in the first half — once not quite playing the final pass, another time tripping over the ball, and finally squaring the ball for a simple tap-in — but for Robertson's intervention.

Those moves didn't produce shots, but they were still significant. They were significant because they gave Real an easy route to goal, and they were significant because they came as a direct result of Liverpool's poor organisation.

Klopp's side offered little attacking threat in the closing stages as if they were happy to accept the scoreline.

In a damning indictment of this side's tactical intelligence, when Liverpool were 2-0 up, they played more like they were 2-0 down, and when they were 5-2 down, they played more like they were 5-2 up.