Liverpool fans, cancel your hotel bookings and blame Jurgen Klopp.
After agonisingly losing the Champions League final to Real Madrid last May, the Reds boss targeted a repeat of his 2019 success when Liverpool avenged another final loss the year prior. "Where's the final next year? Istanbul?" Klopp asked during his post-match interview with BT Sport before turning to the camera. "Book the hotel."
Unfortunately for the Liverpool manager, he's been left red-faced 10 months later, as Real Madrid came back to haunt them once more in this season's round of 16. Having collapsed at Anfield in the first leg three weeks ago, Los Blancos ran out 1-0 winners in the second leg on Wednesday, securing a 6-2 aggregate victory to dump the Reds out.
Klopp's men put in a limp performance, failing to pin Real Madrid down for sustained periods and constantly allowing the home side to break on them. Carlo Ancelotti 's side eventually wrestled hold of the game towards the closing stages and talisman Karim Benzema scored to book their ticket to the quarter-finals.
Los Blancos join Manchester City, Chelsea, Napoli, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Benfica and Bayern Munich in the last eight. Because they're out of the FA Cup, Liverpool now go 17 days without a game, returning to action with a huge Premier League clash at Man City.
The main priority for Klopp is now securing a top-four finish, something which he hasn't failed to do since his first campaign at Anfield. Speaking after the defeat in the Spanish capital on Wednesday, the German coach admitted that Real Madrid thoroughly deserved to go through.
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"Being 5-2 down is not a great result if you want to got through," Klopp admitted to BT Sport. "You ned to have a special performance and we couldn't do that tonight. Real Madrid had the best chances, Alisson [Becker] made two fantastic saves. The right team went through, we have to admit that. Knockout stages are like this. It's not what we wanted but it's what we got.
"You need moments in a game like this, if we scored in the first half it could have given us the spark but this is hypothetical. They were the better team in three halves of this tie and that's how you go through. If we draw at home and play like we did tonight, we probably go out as well. We cannot come here and hope that we get something.
"We prepared for a special performance tonight but it didn't happen. Nobody thinks 'how could Liverpool go out' and that's probably the best sign that the right team went through and that's how it is in the knockout stage."
