So no legendary tales were written in the Spanish capital on Wednesday night and there was to be no Hollywood blockbuster ending for Liverpool here at Santiago Bernabeu.
Hans Gruber is still prowling Nakatomi Plaza, the T-1000 remains at large and Real Madrid have advanced into the quarter-finals of the Champions League. The arch-rivals of Liverpool's European story under Jurgen Klopp will fight another day.
Mission Impossible, to continue the dated action-film references, was always likely to be just that for Klopp, even allowing for his and the team's history of unlikely continental comebacks. And so it proved.
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The three-goal swing needed for the Reds simply to force extra time just doesn't happen to 14-time champions of European football's most grandiose competition. Even when it does, they still come out on the winning side of things. You can ask Chelsea all about that one.
For a team who needed three goals, there was no raging or rallying or throwing of the kitchen sink. Instead, Liverpool went tamely into the night, meekly accepting their fate and exiting at the last-16 stage, with a 1-0 defeat that wrapped up a convincing 6-2 triumph for Carlo Ancelotti's side over the two legs.
Klopp's team used to be the continent's most feared. They are anything but these days. And how the Reds manager must loathe the sight of the La Liga giants. Conquerors in Kiev and Paris, they were also victors in 2021 in the season all football fans have tried to forget.
Needing goals, Klopp named an attacking lineup that featured a quartet of forwards as Cody Gakpo, Darwin Nunez, Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah all started together for the first time. Despite the intent, it was a disjointed attacking display that only briefly threatened to trouble their illustrious hosts.
The fact that Liverpool were left to curse the injury luck of 18-year-old rookie Stefan Bajcetic pre-match spoke plenty about a midfield situation that has already had volumes published on it this season. Ditto for the need to start 37-year-old utility man James Milner in the centre of the park for such a vital game. The 73rd-minute substitution of soon-to-be-free-agent Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain late on as goals were needed was also a major indicator of where it's all gone wrong this term. The failings of this entire Liverpool season can be squarely traced back to that area of the pitch and the failure to significantly recruit and bolster last summer.
Liverpool were rushed and nervous in possession in the early stages as los Blancos dominated proceedings without creating any opportunities to put the tie to bed. The closest they came was when Eduardo Camavinga's long-range effort was tipped on to the bar by the outstanding Alisson Becker. That came after a chance for Vinicius Junior that might have been flagged offside had the goalkeeper not saved that too.
Darwin Nunez had a couple of decent openings either side of a sliced volley from the ineffective Diogo Jota. After regaining some composure from the half-hour mark, Liverpool started to grow into the game but were unable to make a breakthrough in their search for three goals.
Klopp sent on Harvey Elliott and Roberto Firmino for Nunez and Jota before the hour mark and reverted back to his trusted 4-3-3 formation. The decision to remove Jota was understandable but the call to replace 14-goal Nunez was perplexing in the extreme.
Klopp's men continued to swing but their punching power had long deserted them and the hosts barely broke sweat before Karim Benzema, as he so often does against the Reds, scored to break the deadlock with a little over 10 minutes to go.
The question now is how long Liverpool will have to wait before they hear the famous Champions League anthem once more? Only a stirring finish in the Premier League will prevent them slipping into the wilderness.
The final whistle was confirmation of what was pretty much known after about an hour of the first leg; it would be Real Madrid celebrating at Liverpool's expense, yet again.
The decision to play You'll Never Walk Alone within seconds of the final whistle was decided after a wreath was laid at Anfield in the first leg for former Real Madrid president Amancio Amaro. It was a classy moment from the Spaniards but sadly for Liverpool that was about as close as it got to being a famous European night. The wait for another one of those could now be some time.
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