Liverpool have won six European Cups, and Spanish clubs have shaped a fair part of that record. Real Madrid lost the 1981 final to them and have since won two against them. Barcelona led a semi-final by three goals and went out anyway. Atletico Madrid have knocked Liverpool out in extra time. All of which is why Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid markets draw the attention they do. These five have lasted.
Barcelona 1-2 Liverpool, February 2007
A crowd of 88,000 watched the round of 16 first leg at the Camp Nou on 21 February 2007. Deco put Barcelona ahead on 14 minutes. Craig Bellamy equalised on 43 and marked it with a golf swing, days after a row with John Arne Riise on a team trip to Portugal. Riise scored the winner on 74, set up by Bellamy.
Barcelona won the return at Anfield 1-0 through Eidur Gudjohnsen on 6 March, so Liverpool went through 2-2 on away goals. They beat Chelsea on penalties in the semi-final, then lost the final 2-1 to Milan in Athens, Dirk Kuyt scoring. In 2006-07 they came third in the Premier League on 68 points, ahead of Arsenal on goal difference.
Liverpool 4-0 Real Madrid, March 2009
Yossi Benayoun’s header on 82 minutes won the first leg at the Bernabeu on 25 February 2009. The second leg, at Anfield on 10 March, was the heavier night. Fernando Torres scored on 16 minutes, Steven Gerrard converted a penalty on 28 and added a third two minutes after the restart, and Andrea Dossena finished it on 88. Real Madrid lost the tie 5-0.
Chelsea came next. Liverpool lost 3-1 at Anfield in the quarter-final first leg, drew 4-4 at Stamford Bridge and went out 7-5. They finished second in the Premier League on 86 points, four behind Manchester United.
Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona, May 2019
Luis Suarez scored on 26 minutes at the Camp Nou on 1 May 2019, and Lionel Messi added his 599th and 600th Barcelona goals on 75 and 82, the second a free kick from distance. Three down and without Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, Liverpool wiped out the deficit in 56 minutes of the second leg on 7 May. Divock Origi scored on seven, Georginio Wijnaldum on 54 and 56 after coming on at half-time, and Origi added a fourth on 79 from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s quick corner.
Liverpool won the final 2-0 against Tottenham on 1 June, Salah from a second-minute penalty and Origi on 87. The venue was the Estadio Metropolitano, home of Atletico Madrid. They also took 97 points in the Premier League and finished second to Manchester City.
Liverpool 2-3 Atletico Madrid, March 2020
Saul Niguez scored inside four minutes at the Metropolitano on 18 February 2020, and Atletico defended that lead for the rest of the night. At Anfield on 11 March, Wijnaldum levelled the aggregate on 43 minutes and Firmino scored to put Liverpool in front early in extra time. Marcos Llorente replied on 97 and at the end of the first extra period to turn the tie back, then Alvaro Morata made it 4-2 on aggregate in the 121st minute.
The attendance was 52,267, the last crowd at Anfield before football was suspended. Liverpool won the Premier League in 2019-20 with 99 points, a first league title in 30 years.
Real Madrid 1-0 Liverpool, May 2022
The final at the Stade de France on 28 May 2022 kicked off 36 minutes late after crowd trouble outside. Vinicius Junior scored on 59 minutes from Federico Valverde’s cross. Liverpool had 23 shots and nine on target, Real Madrid three and one, and Thibaut Courtois made nine saves.
Liverpool had beaten Villarreal in the semi-final and won both domestic cups on penalties against Chelsea. In 2021-22 they finished second in the Premier League on 92 points, one behind Manchester City.
What the five have in common
These ties rarely turned on the balance of 180 minutes. Barcelona’s three-goal lead lasted 56 minutes at Anfield, the 2020 tie was decided in the second period of extra time, and the 2022 final went to the side with one shot on target. That is the pattern to hold on to when reading Champions League betting odds on a two-legged tie, because an aggregate score flatters whichever leg closed it out.
Liverpool won three of these five ties and lost two, and both defeats came against clubs from Madrid. Betting is for over-18s only.
