Reigning European champions Real Madrid delivered a devastating victory at Anfield to leave Liverpool's Champions League hopes dead and buried.
It was the first time that a team has ever scored five goals at Anfield in a European game, underlining the ruthlessness of Carlo Ancelotti's side.
Goals from Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah had the Reds in dreamland after the first 15 minutes, but a calamitous capitulation led to a stunning turnaround from the holders of the competition.
Vinicius Jr scored two to level the scores going into the break, before an Eder Militao header and two Karim Benzema strikes gave the visitors a resounding victory.
VAVEL takes a look at the four things we learnt from the contest.
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Liverpool attack start fast
The hosts were ahead after six minutes when Nunez flicked a sublime back-heel past Thibaut Courtois and then doubled their lead when Salah capitalised on a blunder from the former Chelsea stopper.
The Egyptian was especially lively in the opening half an hour, scoring his goal before having a penalty claim waved away by the referee and had a chance go narrowly wide after forcing his way into the Madrid box again.
Nunez almost had a second after Jordan Henderson had found Salah after a marauding run down the right flank, the ball eventually fell to the Uruguayan after a scramble, but his shot from three yards out was blocked by Dani Carvajal.
Liverpool have now scored two goals in their last three matches, but it was in defence where the game was lost.
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Then they capitulate defensively
The hosts' undoing after going 2-0 was rather extraordinary. However, it was the result of numerous defensive errors.
Vinicius Jr was able to capitalise on a lack of pressure to smash home past Alisson before the Reds keeper made a howler of his own and allowed his compatriot to square the tie.
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To go in at half-time drawing the contest after leading by two is certainly a blow, but nobody expected the implosion in the second-half.
Joe Gomez gave away a free-kick just after the half-time interval, which led to Militao heading home to give the Spanish side the lead for the first time.
A wicked deflection from Gomez wrong-footed Alisson after some stunning play from Vinicius and Benzema resulted in the Frenchman releasing a left-footed effort after they had won the ball back from Stefan Bajcetic.
Then, it was Fabinho's error that gave the ball to Luca Modric, the Croatian found Vinicius who found last season's Ballon d'Or winner once again for his second of the match.
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Vinicius Jr torments the Reds again
The Brazilian scored the decisive goal in the Champions League final last season and he continued his hot streak against Jurgen Klopp's side.
He now has five goals and two assists in just four matches against the Reds, and became the youngest player to score two against Liverpool at Anfield in major European competition since Johan Cruyff in 1966.
He was a threat all night, constantly causing havoc down Trent Alexander-Arnold's side in a truly world class performance.
He was an instrumental part of a fantastic Real Madrid performance, a domination that the famous ground might never have seen before.
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Age no barrier as Real's experience shines
The visitors older players such as Benzema and Modric shined in the second-half particularly.
The Frenchman put the game to bed with two well-taken finishes and the Croatian was an integral part of two of the decisive goals.
The squad's experience paid off as they suffocated the Merseyside outfit after the interval, showing why they have won two of the past five editions of the tournament.
The fact that they regrouped and scored five despite being 2-0 down in a hostile Anfield atmosphere was reminiscent of last year's brilliant run to the trophy.
No sane person would bet against them winning the competition for the 15th time.