Mac Allister heads Liverpool to Champions League win over Real Madrid

LIVERPOOL, England :Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister headed a second-half winner as the hosts earned a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Real Madrid in a battle between European giants on Tuesday, handing the LaLiga leaders their first defeat in the Champions League this season.

Arne Slot's men climbed to sixth in the table with nine points after four games of the league stage, one place below Real who are level on points but lead on goal difference.

Liverpool, who three days earlier halted a dreadful four-game Premier League losing streak, battled from the start and kept Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois on his toes before Mac Allister finally broke the deadlock in the 61st minute. 

Dominik Szoboszlai, who was outstanding all night, sent in a beautiful free kick and the Argentine rose the highest to head home and send Anfield into raptures.

Liverpool briefly celebrated what they thought was a penalty in the first half when Szoboszlai blasted the ball off the arm of Aurelien Tchouameni, but the referee decided there had been no handball after a VAR review.

"I think it was a good game against a really good team," Mac Allister said. "(Courtois) is a fantastic keeper - we all know. He had a few saves, so again I think he's a really good keeper but today I think we were better and deserved to win."

Szoboszlai had several terrific chances on the night. Courtois stopped what might have been a simple tap-in off Florian Wirtz's cross when he threw up a leg to stop Szoboszlai's shot in the first half. The Hungarian forced a couple more diving saves from Courtois before halftime.    Real's best chance before the break was Jude Bellingham's shot from a tight angle that lunging Liverpool keeper Giorgi Mamardashvili got a foot on.

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