Karim Benzema, a striker for Real Madrid, thinks that his team's stunning comeback victory over Liverpool on February 21 was fueled by the Anfield fans.
In the first leg of their Round of 16 match against the Reds in the UEFA Champions League,
Los Blancos trailed by two goals inside the first 15 minutes. Darwin Nunez scored the game's first goal with a cunning backheel in the fourth minute,
and Mohamed Salah scored after Thibaut Courtois made a mistake ten minutes later.
But, Vinicius Junior's brace, which featured a beautiful curler and a mistake from Alisson Becker, brought them even before halftime.
The Frenchman admitted his team's poor performance early in the game while speaking with BBC Sport after the game.
He does think that once Liverpool controlled the first 15 minutes, they found their true selves. Benzema remarked
We got off to a shaky start. We thought the Anfield crowd would put us under pressure, but after the first 15 minutes, we witnessed the real Real Madrid.
Football at this level is difficult. They got off to a stronger start than us, but this was a huge game, and we were prepared.