Real Madrid Overpowers Liverpool, Man City Beat Dortmund

 

Real Madrid overpowered Liverpool 3-1 in the first leg of the sides' Champions League quarterfinal on Tuesday, while Borussia Dortmund was left frustrated by a disallowed goal in its 2-1 defeat to Manchester City.

Despite being without starting center-back pairing Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane, Real Madrid looked a class above the reigning Premier League champion and took the lead through first-half goals from Vinicius Junior and Marco Asensio.

Mohamed Salah pulled one back for Liverpool, but with 25 minutes remaining, Real extended its lead with Vinicius grabbing his second of the night.

It was the same scoreline as when the two sides met in the Champions League final in 2018, and this time Liverpool faces a tough challenge to overturn the two-goal deficit in the second leg at Anfield on April 14.

"If you want to go to the semifinals of the Champions League, you have to earn the right to do so," Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp told BT Sport.

In Tuesday's other tie, a late goal from Phil Foden helped Manchester City to a 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund.

Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring as he drove the ball deep into the Dortmund half before Foden and Riyad Mahrez combined to tee up De Bruyne for the finish.

In an eventful first half, City had a penalty decision overturned after consultation with the video assistant referee while Dortmund had Jude Bellingham's goal ruled out as he took the ball from Ederson.

Marco Reus leveled the game late on from a well-worked move that handed Dortmund a valuable away goal, only for City to restore its lead when De Bruyne's ball into the box allowed Ilkay Gundogan to set up Foden for the winner.

However, Dortmund will feel that it deserved a better result after Bellingham's disallowed effort.

"I definitely think I won the ball fairly," the 17-year-old told BT Sport of the first-half incident.

- cnn