Champions League: Real Madrid keep hex on Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp calls them ‘outstanding’
- No miracle recovery for Klopp’s side as Real reach quarterfinals with 1-0 victory and 6-2 aggregate success
- Real, who beat Liverpool in last year’s final, have now knocked the Reds out of the competition three years in a row
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp hailed “outstanding” Real Madrid as the Spanish club eased to victory in the latest Champions League tie between the sides.
Karim Benzema struck to give Real a 1-0 win and qualification for the quarterfinals as the repeat of last year’s final ended with the holders progressing 6-2 on aggregate.
After the wild last-16 first-leg clash at Anfield left Real sitting pretty with a three-goal advantage, Klopp had said his side only had a 1 per cent chance of turning the tie around.
They stemmed the bleeding at the Santiago Bernabeu, helped by stops by goalkeeper Alisson Becker, but never looked like mounting a stirring comeback of the type they managed against Barcelona in 2019, or AC Milan in the 2005 final.
“Madrid were in control of the whole game, Ali had to make two sensational saves to keep us in the game,” Klopp told reporters.
