Klopp Talk: It Was the Game ‘Madrid Wanted to Play’

Liverpool flew out to a two goal lead against Real Madrid on Tuesday night when the Reds welcomed their old Champions League foes to Anfield. You might as well have turned the game off after that though, because it was all downhill from then on.

Real Madrid tied the score by half time, and when the full time whistle blew, they added three more goals to their tally. A 5-2 loss at Anfield stings, especially against Madrid, who have twice beaten Klopp’s Liverpool in the Champions League final in the last five years.

In Jürgen Klopp’s press conference after the game, he started out giving his team credit where it was due, but then admitted that they failed to control the majority of the game.

“The start in the game, in our situation where we are, it is really important that we see positive steps - and 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,” he said.

But after half time is when disaster struck, and Liverpool were unable to hold off a rampant Madrid team who scored twice within the first 10 minutes.

“We lost the momentum in that moment [after the third goal] and never really got it back,” he admitted. “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 and that’s how it came to the result. That’s it.”

It’s hard not to read into Klopp’s ‘that’s it’ the same resigned sadness frustration that we’re all feeling at the moment. Still, in three weeks, Liverpool get to try and overcome this deficit at the Bernabeu. Liverpool always love a comeback story, so you never know. However, at the moment, it seems like the Reds will be out of their last remaining cup competition after making it to the finals of all three last season.