Liverpool's season has been described as a "failure" by Dirk Kuyt after the Reds lost out in the Champions League final.
Jurgen Klopp's side headed to Paris as favourites but were undone by Real Madrid at the Stade de France as Los Blancos claimed their 14th European Cup. Vinicius Jnr proved to be the match winner, scoring at the far post in the second-half to cap a league double.
Liverpool had been going for a cup treble of their own following successes in the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup earlier this season. Up until last weekend Klopp's side were still in contention for an unprecedented quadruple. However a dramatic last day saw Manchester City claim Premier League glory.
They've now missed out on another trophy having been beaten in the Stade de France. Kuyt, who spent six years Anfield, has delivered a damning verdict on their campaign, insisting they weren't strong enough when it counted. He told RTL: "Liverpool’s season has failed. They played good football but you need to be decisive in May, and they weren’t."
Liverpool dominated proceedings in the French capital, having 24 attempts on the Madrid goal. Nine of those were on target but they ran into an inspired Thibaut Courtois who would make some huge saves from Mo Salah and Sadio Mane en route to the Man of the Match award.
Klopp said after his third Champions League final defeat: “They scored a goal and we didn’t. That’s hard to take but we have to respect that. I congratulate Madrid and I have congratulated their president outside personally. When a goalkeeper is man of the match something is obviously wrong for the other team. We had three really big chances when Courtois made incredible saves. I would have loved more of them. In the last third we could have done better.
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“Madrid had one shot on target and scored. We had nine on target and we couldn’t score. That’s the difference. We had 24 shots and I remember Courtois making three world-class saves. With our quality we can cause more problems.”
A season of fine margins has seen Liverpool end with only half the trophy count they were targeting, nevertheless Klopp spoke of his immense pride. He said: “I feel the pride already. I told the boys that in the dressing room, but it was clear I was the only one who felt that. The boys will need longer. They played an outstanding season. The two competitions we didn’t win were by the smallest possible margins – one point from City in the Premier League and one goal against Real Madrid in the Champions League. That says nothing about us.
