Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp feels that mistakes cost Liverpool after they ceded a two-goal lead and lost 5-2 to Real Madrid in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday night.
Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah scored early as the Reds flew out of the blocks at Anfield but Real Madrid responded and were back on level terms at the break through a Vinicius Jr brace.
Eder Militao made it 3-2 in the opening minutes of the second half, before Karim Benzema struck twice to earn Carlo Ancelotti’s side a commanding advantage heading into the second leg in Madrid, Spain in March.
Below is a summary of Klopp’s post-match press conference comments:
On the result and Liverpool’s performance: “I really think everything was pretty obvious tonight; I think we gave all five goals away and that means we could have done better, but they were all obviously different.
“I think the first-half was, besides the two goals we conceded, the best we’ve played for probably the whole season. I liked it a lot. The second goal, we cannot defend better because it is a slapstick [moment], but it equalled pretty much our second goal that we scored.
“Half-time, [was] rather positive, to be honest. You think, ‘OK, this happened … we have to play in this and that space, if we keep doing that, they will have problems’. And then we start with conceding the third goal, which was a horrible goal, and it was pretty much the game-changer.
“We lost the momentum in that moment and never really got it back. In the first-half, we could have scored a third one, we had our moments, we were a bit unlucky with the scrappy situation in the six-yard box.
“In the second-half, the game was the game Real Madrid wanted to play. Both of the other goals they scored, one is deflected and they are not really well-defended, to be honest. We lose the ball in the wrong moment, which is obviously a massive problem against Real Madrid with the counter-attacking threat they have, that’s how it came to the result.”
On Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti saying he does not believe the tie is over:
“I think Carlo thinks the tie is over, but in three weeks … it’s how it is in these moments, the closer you get to the game, the bigger our chances become and the less likely it is the tie is over.
“Tonight, with the 5-2 and you see the game, they are pretty good in counter-attacking and we have to score three goals there and take some risk, so that could be a bit tricky. It is really not even in my mind. We go there, I can say it already, and try to win the game. If that is possible or not, I don’t know, but that’s what we will try.”
On whether he is concerned about what this result might do to the confidence of his players:
“I told the boys after the game that there are different things that happened tonight, this was a result that was the exact opposite of what we wanted. We made mistakes around the goals. And I said a couple of times that a defeat is a defeat if you don’t learn from it. “If we allow this one game to be influential, well, we are really silly.” – www.liverpoolfc.com
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