What Jurgen Klopp did after Eder Militao goal sums up…

What Jurgen Klopp did after Eder Militao goal sums up Liverpool's major Champions League concern

It seems somewhat strange to declare after arguably the most chastening, humiliating night in Liverpool’s long, illustrious European history.

But if there is one crucial aspect to take from this bizarrely dreadful defeat, it’s that Jurgen Klopp’s simply cannot get back in the Champions League quick enough.

Forget the second leg of this round of 16 tie next month. Sure, Liverpool may have a hallmark for stirring comebacks, but that has usually been against what could be termed as normal, regular opposition.

LIVE: Liverpool vs Real Madrid live score and reaction

Real Madrid are not that. They have never been that, at least not in the Champions League, a competition they regard their own and on which they possess some sort of strange, mystical hold that continually bewitches opponents into submission no matter what predicament the Spaniards find themselves in.

Here it was being 2-0 down inside 15 minutes against a vibrant Liverpool team who were in danger of blowing them away. Manchester City and Roma had crumbled back in 2018, Barcelona memorably so the following year. Real, though, just kept doing what they always do. Real gotta Real.

Their quality is beyond dispute. So too their belief. And when they are married to the fortune that so often aids them at key moments in matches, it’s small wonder they have won this competition a record 14 times. Few would back against them making it 15 this year. And 16 the next.

There was, though, nothing lucky about the dire defending from Liverpool at the start of the second half that gave Real the momentum to run away with the game and the tie. Klopp, his arms spread out aghast on the touchline at the free header for Eder Militao to score the third, spoke for everyone of a Red persuasion. After such a stirring start, the Reds were unforgivably absent in the second half.

Even overcoming AC Milan in Istanbul back in 2005 would be a reasonably straightforward assignment compared to the task Liverpool now face in the Bernabeu in three weeks. The subdued Anfield crowd at the full-time whistle knows a recovery is beyond a side which remains in clear transition.

A night to forget, then, for the Reds, their heaviest-ever defeat at home in Europe, the first time they had conceded more than three goals at Anfield in such a tie.

But it was also a reminder of how grand these occasions are and the standard they require to drag themselves back. The only realistic Champions League concern Liverpool now have is qualifying for the competition next season.

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