Vinicius Brace Real Madrid Half Way Past Liverpool In First Leg

Real Madrid winger,  Vinicius Jr was on target with a brace to give Rojiblancos an edge over sloppy Liverpool side in a 3-1 at home in Tuesday's Champions League quarterfinal first leg.

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

READ ALSO: Liverpool vs Real Madrid Is Not About Revenge — Klopp

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 and put Zinedine Zidane's side in pole position for next week's second leg at Anfield.

With the absence of Sergio Ramos, Real put up some real defensive solidarity putting the Firmino, Mane, Salah attacking trident at bay.

Real Madrid will now turn attention to the weekend El Clasico clash with Barcelona as they look to overtake Atletico Madrid at the top of the Spanish summit.