Jurgen Klopp claimed Liverpool were beaten by "the best team in the world" after Manchester City knocked them out of the Carabao Cup at the Etihad.
The Reds twice fought back from a goal down but could not respond a third time after Nathan Ake's header gave Pep Guardiola's men a 3-2 lead on Thursday evening.
Erling Haaland scored the game's opening goal after 10 minutes before Liverpool levelled through Fabio Carvalho. Riyad Mahrez made it 2-1 shortly after the restart and Darwin Nunez laid on Mohamed Salah for his 15th of the campaign moments later.
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Ake's goal won it for Guardiola's team to relinquish Liverpool's hold on the Carabao Cup they won for a record ninth time in February at the fourth-round stage.
Klopp refused to be overly critical of his players at full time, lamenting the manner of the goals, but accepting the Premier League champions are one of the finest sides around.
"It was a spectacular game, I have to say," Klopp said. "And it was high intensity and there is a lot to take from it. The result, obviously not and the goals we conceded not, but in between we played the best team in the world, they are unbelievable in what they do and I respect that.
"I will not count too much now the difficult parts because we will not play a team like Man City every three days. We will do better and we will work on that and we will make sure we are ready for Aston Villa.
"It was a difficult start. In the first 15 minutes we had problems. Man City played through our midfield far too often and we all know City has different ideas for different games and you always have to get used to it during a game.
"You never know exactly what will happen and obviously the position of Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gunodgan in combinations with Cole Palmer and Mahrez gave us some problems on top of the problems you [already] have.
"They have Erling Haaland in the centre, you should not forget, with his movements, so in these situations we were not compact enough and that is why they could play through us and it cost you.
"We found a way back in the game at 1-0 down and scored a wonderful goal and we had some good football moments before the goal already. We caused them problems as well. It was 1-1 at half-time and they scored quickly after I don't know how many minutes, for their second goal."
Klopp added: "By the way, the first chance for Haaland, in the first half, was offside wasn't it? That gives the game a direction. It was offside, but no-one flagged it and it gives you a bad feeling.
"Then in the second half, the goal they scored - we should have defended all three goals better - but this second one, when Riyad takes the ball with the first touch inside, it is just world class and I respect that a lot. But before that we could have been in better positions.
"Third goal, especially, we are not switched on when they start their little routine. The cross came in and we are not ready. Not enough players watch the ball early, so there is a lot of space for improvement, but we had our moments. They had more chances.
"In games it is always like this, we push each other on to the next level. The game goes in spells, us better, City better, stuff like this."
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