Team manager Jürgen Klopp from FC Liverpool does not go into the second leg without hope despite the rough 2: 5 smack in the first leg of the Champions League against Real Madrid.
“We’re going there, I can say that already, and we’ll try to win the game. Whether that’s possible or not, I don’t know. But we’ll try and then we’ll see.” said the 55-year-old with a view to the second duel on March 15 in Madrid.
‘Total surrender’ – English press picks Liverpool apart
The English Daily Newspaper Times had seen a “total capitulation” by his side, “Liverpool suffered perhaps their worst defeat in an extremely disappointing season”. The club suffered its “worst home defeat” ever on the European stage, wrote the Telegraph.
The “Daily Mail” wrote: “Anfield is a place where other teams manage to catch up, but not Liverpool. Anfield is actually, especially on Champions League nights, a place where Liverpool shatter their opponents’ dreams, not the other way around.”
Initial phase makes Klopp courage
Above all, Klopp praised the strong early phase of his team, who were already 2-0 up after 14 minutes. “The whole first half was good apart from the goals we conceded”, said Klopp, who described the equalizer from Vinicius Junior as a “slapstick”. Reds keeper Alisson Becker shot his fellow Brazilian: “It shouldn’t be happening. That’s strange.”
Darwin Nunez (4′) and Mohamed Salah (14′) gave the home side the lead – Vinicius Junior (21′, 36′), Eder Militao (47′) and Karim Benzema (55′, 67′) also provided a brace for a football spectacle at Anfield Road.
Rüdiger: With self-confidence “everything went a little easier”
“We still believed in ourselves, but coming back like this is just crazy,” said Real central defender Antonio Rüdiger. “After the 0:2 we said to ourselves: We only need one goal – luckily we did it quickly. After that we had confidence and everything went a little easier,” said the international.
Both teams had faced each other in the final of the Champions League in 2018 and 2022, in both cases Real won. While Madrid underlined their title ambitions with the comeback, Liverpool is on the verge of being eliminated.
The hope of a turnaround for the team, which has been struggling this season, has fizzled out for the time being. For the first time in club history, Liverpool have conceded five goals in a home game in international competition. “It’s a reality check,” said former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard. “With any team that concedes five goals, there are things that need to be questioned.”