Jurgen Klopp bemoaned missed chances as Liverpool suffered a “hard, harsh” Champions League final defeat in Paris.
A goal from Vinicius Junior shortly before the hour proved decisive as Real Madrid won 1-0 at the Stade de France on Saturday evening.
That was the only shot on target from the Spanish side compared to nine for Liverpool, who were constantly thwarted by man-of-the-match Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois.
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And Klopp said: “I’m not sure it’s an incredible result, it’s just a normal football result. The stats were 50-50 in possession, we had a lot more shots and shots on target but the most decisive stat is absolutely on Madrid’s side.
“I congratulate Real Madrid. They scored a goal and we didn’t, that’s the easiest explanation in the world of football.
“It was hard, harsh to get beat that way but we respect that, of course. When the goalkeeper is man of the match then something is going wrong for the other team. We had three really big chances where Courtois made incredible saves.
“I would have liked to have a few more of this calibre in the last third, we could have done better passing and the crosses especially at the end of the game, crossing towards Courtois didn’t make too much sense. With our quality, we could have caused them more problems. But I saw a lot of passion and desire from my boys.
“We know the chance to make it 1-1 with Mo (Salah), we know how often Mo scored in those situations and it was just an outstanding save from Courtois.”
Having started the game strongly, Liverpool appeared to run out of steam during the final quarter as they fell short in an attempt to win a cup treble and clinch a seventh European Cup.
And asked if his team were feeling the effects of playing a 63rd game of the season, Klopp said: “It doesn’t help but I don’t think it was the reason.
“We had the best face after they scored, then we played exactly the spaces we had to play. In the first half we had good moments, Sadio could turn and arrive in the box, that was good.
“We wanted to play a bit more in their formation second half and around it. The problem is when you play against Real Madrid and they play that deep, the counter-attacking threat they have is immense and we cannot ignore that. I saw us doing a lot of good things but it was not enough and we take that.”
Klopp added: “We could have played better football but Madrid could have and they won. They scored with one shot and we didn’t with nine.
“Madrid had one shot on target and it was a goal. Yeah…
“I understand 100% and respect it. The reason for playing football and having these competitions is to win the game. Whatever you do, as long as it’s in the rules it’s allowed and you can do it then it’s really fine."
