Jurgen Klopp speaks after Liverpool’s 5-2 defeat to Real Madrid in the last-16 of the Champions League
Jurgen Klopp was left to lament Liverpool’s defensive woes as Real Madrid won 5-2 at Anfield in the Champions League.
The Reds conceded five times for the first time at home in the European Cup as Carlo Ancelotti’s holders took charge of the last-16-tie ahead of the second leg in Madrid next month.
Darwin Nunez and Mohamed Salah both scored inside the first 15 minutes to give the Reds a commanding lead before the 14-time European champions hit back through a Vinicius Junior brace before the break.
Eder Militao headed los Blancos into the lead after the restart before Karim Benzema scored twice to leave Klopp’s men with a mountain to climb in the Spanish capital.
“Everything was pretty obvious,” Klopp said. “We gave all five goals away. All five. It means we could have done better there. But they were obviously all different.
“The start of the game, in our situation, where we are, it’s really important that we see positive steps. I think the first half, besides the two goals we conceded, was the best we had played, probably in the whole season. I liked that a lot.
“The two goals we have to defend better. For the second it’s clear we can defend better. It’s slapstick, they equalise pretty much like the second goal we scored.
“The first goal we concede we have to defend better. We have enough players around, nobody puts a foot in. It’s very tight and it’s just a world-class moment from Vinicius as well.”
Klopp added: “But I think it’s obvious that we can defend that better. Half-time, where are the positives? Okay, this happened. We have to play in this and that space. If we keep doing that, they will have problems. But then we start by conceding the third goal which is a horrible goal.
“Today it was pretty much a game-changer. Don’t say that it’s okay that it was a game-changer, but it was today. We lost the momentum in that moment and never really got it back.
“In the first half we could have scored a third, had our moments and were a bit unlucky in the six-yard box. But in the second half, the game was the game Real Madrid wanted to play.
“Both of the other goals that they scored, one was deflected, and they are not really well defended to be honest. We lose the ball at the wrong moment which is obviously a massive problem again against Real Madrid with the counter-attacking threat they have. And it’s the result. That’s it.”
