Vinicius makes it double as Madrid overpower Liverpool

Vinicius Jr. with Casemiro after scoring for Real Madrid

Vinicius Jr. with Casemiro after scoring for Real Madrid

Vinicius Jr. with Casemiro after scoring for Real Madrid
Vinicius Jr. with Casemiro after scoring for Real Madrid

Agency Report

Real Madrid forward Vinicius Jr scored twice as they punished a sloppy Liverpool side to win 3-1 at home in Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg match.

The 20-year-old Brazilian fired the 13-times European champions into the lead in the 27th minute at the Alfredo di Stefano stadium.

This was after controlling a long diagonal pass from Toni Kroos from his own half which flummoxed the Liverpool defence.

Marco Asensio put the hosts further at ease by scoring in the 35th minute after a Kroos pass again caused havoc among the visiting backline.

But Liverpool looked more settled after the interval and a scrappy Mohamed Salah strike pulled them back into contention early in the second half.

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But they failed to build on their momentum and Vinicius struck again in the 63rd minute to repeat the scoreline of the 2018 Champions League final match.

The result thus puts Zinedine Zidane’s side in pole position for next week’s second leg at Anfield.

In the second quarter-final, Phil Foden struck a 90th minute winner as Manchester City took a slender 2-1 lead from the first leg tie against Borussia Dortmund.

Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring on 19 minutes for the runaway Premier League leaders, but Dortmund grabbed a vital away goal when Erling Haaland teed up Marco Reus to equalise six minutes from time.

Foden had missed a series of chances to double City’s lead earlier in the second-half, but made amends at the death to give Pep Guardiola’s men the advantage with the second leg to come in Germany on April 14.

City have failed to get beyond the last eight in their previous four seasons under Guardiola and once again struggled to replicate their scintillating Premier League form on the European stage.

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