Liverpool's remaining hope of silverware this season was this evening ended after being knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid.
Karim Benzema's second half strike ended any hopes of a dramatic late turnaround by the Reds and clinched a 6-2 aggregate win for the reigning European champions.
Liverpool created few major opportunities during the 90 minutes at the Bernabeu and could have no complaints about exiting the competition after failing to truly test Thibaut Courtois.
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Despite the disappointment of the results over the two legs, there was a sense of mutual respect between both sets of supporters at the full-time whistle at Anfield and again tonight. After watching Liverpool fans stay to applaud their players off the pitch, Los Blancos fans began to chant 'Liverpool' as show of appreciation.
This theme was again on show on Wednesday evening following the full-time whistle at the Bernabeu. As dejected Liverpool players made their way off the pitch, 'You'll Never Walk Alone' was played on the PA system. Although this will have done little to ease the pain being felt by Jurgen Klopp's men, this was nonetheless a nice moment which saw home and away fans singing in unison.
The Spanish giants took the decision to play the Reds' iconic soundtrack in response to the wreath placed in front of Los Blancos' travelling contingent at Anfield last month for Real legend and honorary president Amancio Amaro, who sadly died at the age of 83 on the same day of this fixture.
Ancelotti confirmed after the game: "They honored Amancio in the first leg and it’s a fair gesture from our club towards them."
Ancelotti's side are now through to the quarter-finals of the competition and will face one of the following sides in the next phase of the Champions League: AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Benfica, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Napoli.
