Jurgen Klopp was full of praise for Nacho after the 1st leg

Liverpool head coach Jurgen Klopp spoke to the media after his side lost 2 - 5 to Real Madrid at Anfield in the first leg of the Champions League round-of-16. Klopp gave his analysis of what went wrong, and wasn’t shy about praising Real Madrid.

Our very own Kiyan Sobhani asked the German about what changed for them on the right wing, when eventually Real Madrid figured out how to stop Trent Alexander-Arnold’s attacks:

“Nacho came on and played a super game,” Klopp said. “David Alaba is a top top top player but I thought tonight we saw why Nacho has played however many years at Real Madrid.. In the second half we were not as good so it was probably easy to defend”

Klopp also explained how Eder Militao’s goal just after half-time to put Real Madrid up 2 - 3 was a gut punch.

“I really thought the 3-2 had a massive impact, I saw that as well,” Klopp exaplined. “The 2-1 and the 2-2 not so much… my personal feeling was, ‘first goal, OK, bad defending but well done as well, the second was slapstick but get over it and play from there and then the third goal directly after half-time, we didn’t deal particularly well with that, that’s true.’ We don’t want to concede goals but I think if we just think about the first half, everybody’s impression was, ‘Wow, that was a really good first half’ even when we conceded two. I really thought our people saw it exactly like that, they were outstanding tonight in a difficult game. The first half it was not too difficult to be positive but in the second half when it was difficult to stay positive, they were positive and I am thankful for that.

Klopp also gave his thoughts on whether the tie is still alive or not:

“I think Carlo thinks the tie is over - and I think it as well in the moment, 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,” the Liverpool coach explained. “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 now already, and try to win the game. If that is possible or not, I don’t know now but that’s what we will try and from there we will see.