Karim Benzema seals inevitable Real Madrid win against limp Liverpool

“On the good side of history,” said the banner stretching across the south end of the Santiago Bernabéu, yet this place built on epic tales did not need one here. Instead, Real Madrid reasserted their status with a calm authority, refusing to allow a rebellion, let alone a comeback. That is their thing, after all. That Liverpool are out of the Champions League is no surprise after a 5-2 defeat at Anfield; what might be a surprise is that they never really looked like avoiding that fate, or inflicting any real suffering upon this stadium.

A game that needed lots of goals got just one, and it was Madrid’s. It was scored by Karim Benzema and although it ended this tie, the truth is it had already felt over. When Liverpool needed to go up through the gears they were unable to do so. They required three goals but had not managed a shot on target in the second half and so it ended.

When it did, at the full-time whistle, the Bernabéu played You’ll Never Walk Alone and the fans stood to applaud Liverpool and their supporters, an act that spoke of respect, if not so much for what had happened here but all those other times. In each of the last six years, Liverpool’s Champions League came to an end with Madrid. Four times now Real Madrid have stopped them: in two finals, a quarter-final and now here; three years ago, Atlético did, in the last 16. Here, they were defeated again. It had always been likely.

Carlo Ancelotti had announced it would be an open game, if only because Liverpool had to come for them. And they did … and also sort of didn’t. They were only 40 seconds in when Benzema almost gave the ball away inside his own area, but the pressure applied there, once the essence of Jürgen Klopp’s team, was not always apparent.