Liverpool meekly stepped aside as Real Madrid booked their place in the Champions League quarter-finals last night.
After narratives of another famous European comeback, the Reds failed to deliver on what their supporters had been dreaming. of. Following the 5-2 drubbing from the first leg, Jurgen Klopp's side went to the Bernabeu needing to score at least three goals to take the game to extra-time.
Despite the attacking intentions in the starting line-up, which pitted four of Liverpool's attackers up front, it was Los Blancos who reigned superior again after Karim Benzema's second-half goal, to win 1-0 on the night and 6-2 on aggregate.
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Sharing their assessment on what unravelled in Spain were the national media, along with our own Paul Gorst, whose thoughts on the tepid European exit can be found below.
'Liverpool duly went out of the Champions League, hamstrung by their own limitations'
Henry Winter of The Times wrote:
"Real were so in charge of this second leg, so threatening when the ball was in the imperious sway of Luka Modric, Karim Benzema, Vinícius Júnior and Eduardo Camavinga, that Jürgen Klopp’s prediction that Liverpool had “one per cent” chance of qualifying appeared ambitious.
"Liverpool duly went out of the Champions League, hamstrung by their own limitations, and punished by Real’s strengths, especially when Benzema struck his 89th goal in 148 Champions League games late on.
"It was mission impossible, the damage done in the first leg, but Liverpool are a club who believe in miracles and Klopp had gone for it. He had no choice. Chasing a three-goal deficit after that Anfield annihilation, Liverpool’s manager began with a front three of Mo Salah, Diogo Jota and Darwin Núñez with Cody Gakpo shuttling between the right side of a midfield three and attack.
"Liverpool also had James Milner and Fabinho in midfield, and they worked hard but the team missed the urgency and leadership of Jordan Henderson, who was ill, and the confidence of young Stefan Bajcetic who was injured."
'Cancel the hotel for Istanbul'
Jason Burt of the Telegraph wrote:
"Cancel the hotel for Istanbul. After the heartache and trauma of losing last year’s Champions League final Jurgen Klopp had defiantly urged Liverpool fans to book their accommodation for this season’s venue by the Bosphorus but, in the last-16, they are out. Over and out.
"That they were knocked out by Real Madrid will hurt even more, given that 1-0 loss in Paris, but the truth is Liverpool never really believed they could over-turn the shocking 5-2 defeat in the first leg at Anfield which always made this fixture such an almost mission impossible...
"Liverpool have 11 games to overhaul Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur and maybe even Manchester United – and now hold off Brighton - and salvage something from a season that promised so much but is in danger of disappearing in soul-searching and inevitable recrimination.
"Maybe it would have been different had Darwin Nunez scored, when through on goal, in the seventh minute and maybe it would have sparked the greatest comeback in Liverpool’s storied history and in this competition.
"But there were not many maybes on a night when Liverpool’s best player was goalkeeper Alisson, who made three outstanding saves before being beaten, and Klopp’s assessment that they had a “one per cent” chance of going through was not false modesty or playing it down but was just wholly accurate. There was simply no chance of turning doubters into believers.
"Instead a small piece of unwanted history was made: the 6-2 aggregate loss was the biggest Liverpool have ever suffered in this competition and that will feel painful."
'Lifeless Liverpool offer throwback to Hodgson era with tame European exit'
Jonathan Liew of The Guardian wrote:
"Liverpool acquitted themselves respectably enough here. There would be no comeback, but there would be no collapse either. And when the moment comes to debrief this tie, they will probably reflect that it was won and lost in that pivotal passage at Anfield when they let in five goals. This is a sport of such fine margins, and ultimately those five goals in 46 minutes really are going to cost you at this level.
"Even so, there was something important missing here: the energy and vigour and focus and basic sporting pride that Jürgen Klopp’s side have come to regard as a bare minimum. Some of the passing felt like a throwback to the Roy Hodgson era. The off-the-ball movement was entirely predictable, entirely one-dimensional, all boring straight lines with barely an angle to work with. Trent Alexander-Arnold is currently in the stage of acute bafflement that an elite athlete undergoes when their body is simply no longer doing what they tell it to do.
"On the touchline Klopp waved his arms, pointed and gestured, a man pushing all the buttons at his disposal but with a dwindling trust that any of them were still working. He had picked a bold and expansive line-up here, four forwards with four contrasting threats, the sort of team you pick when you still smell the faint possibility of an ambush. He made early substitutions and late substitutions. The midfield was hollowed out and then gradually repopulated. Klopp can be accused of many things but an absence of ideas is not one of them. And yet in a game that demanded an attacking blitz, Liverpool did not generate a single shot between the 37th and 83rd minutes."
"It was a classy moment but sadly for Liverpool that was about as close as it got to being a famous European night"
Paul Gorst of the ECHO wrote:
"The question now is how long Liverpool will have to wait before they hear the famous Champions League anthem once more? Only a stirring finish in the Premier League will prevent them slipping into the wilderness.
"The final whistle was confirmation of what was pretty much known after about an hour of the first leg; it would be Real Madrid celebrating at Liverpool's expense, yet again.
"The decision to play You'll Never Walk Alone within seconds of the final whistle was decided after a wreath was laid at Anfield in the first leg for former Real Madrid president Amancio Amaro. It was a classy moment from the Spaniards but sadly for Liverpool that was about as close as it got to being a famous European night. The wait for another one of those could now be some time."
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