Alexis Mac Allister’s verdict on Real Madrid win sums up Champions League format

Liverpool finished top of last season’s first-phase standings but were then drawn to face Paris St Germain in the round of 16 and were eliminated by the eventual champions

In many ways, it was another memorable European night at Anfield. Arne Slot’s side were back to their thrilling best, Trent Alexander-Arnold was reminded that fans’ loyalty is to the club and not to players, and there were some landmark individual performances, not least from Conor Bradley.

But in other ways, Liverpool’s excellent win will be unmemorable. In this season’s Champions League grand scheme, it will mean little.

This format – in its second season – guarantees that. As irresistible as Liverpool were against Real Madrid, the attempts at resistance from the Spanish giants were not overly intense.

They already had three wins under their belt and qualification for at least the knockout play-off stage is a formality. That is despite a second successive defeat on Merseyside.

READ MORE: Arne Slot’s three-word verdict on Trent Alexander-Arnold after message to ex-Liverpool starREAD MORE: Virgil van Dijk fires back at Wayne Rooney in awkward exchange after Liverpool win

Real Madrid have four fixtures left – away at Olympiacos and Benfica, home to Monaco and Manchester City – and a couple of points should guarantee they are not eliminated after the qualification stages. In an ideal world, they would want to finish in the top eight and avoid that two-legged play-off game in February but it is not the end of the world if they do not.

Liverpool finished top of the standings last season but then copped for Paris St Germain in the round of 16 and went out. Paris St Germain became champions even though they lost three times in this stage of the competition.

That scenario will give Slot food for thought when it comes to squad rotation in the later stages of this first phase of Champions League competition. Slot and Liverpool pretty much went full tilt for all but the final game of the eight-match preliminaries last season but this time around, the manager might have a rethink.

A win against PSV at Anfield towards the end of this month would give Liverpool 12 points from five matches and all but certain to at least be in the knockout phase play-offs. That might tempt Slot to rest a few key players over the remaining three Champions League qualifiers.

Again, finishing in the top eight and getting an automatic spot in the round of 16 would seem to be the best situation but of the teams that finished in those positions last season, four were eliminated in their next tie. It will be a balancing act for Slot and the head coaches of Europe’s elite clubs, who will all avoid elimination after this ‘Swiss model’ stage.

But they will have learned from last season. The scramble for a top-right finish will not be as intense and there will be plenty of matches in which the traditional powerhouses field weakened teams.

Of course, none of this should detract from a wonderful Liverpool display against Real Madrid on a night when the crowd and atmosphere again came into its Anfield own. It was an electric occasion with an electric performance.

But Alexis Mac Allister – the man whose head powered home the winner – had it right when he said: “It was … a win. But we know it does not mean anything. The experience last season? We finished first and then after that, we were out quite early.”

Quite rightly, Liverpool fans and players revelled in the victory. After all, any win over Real Madrid should be properly celebrated. But the bitter experience of last season will keep their feet on the ground.

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