Jürgen Klopp seemed composed. The Liverpool coach did not want to and could not hide his disappointment, in the analysis after the early premier class knockout. but he remained factual.

"We are a team and a club that competes in the Champions League to win. But we have to play outstanding football to do that, and we didn't do that today," said the 55-year-old at DAZN after the 0-1 im Round of 16 second leg at Real Madrid.

Due to the 5-2 defeat in the first leg, the Reds had almost no chance of reaching the quarter-finals. Instead, only Real can look forward to the draw on Friday.

Looking back and forward

Klopp, on the other hand, looked back and ahead at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu late in the evening. Back to a disappointing season for the English so far, which he explained as "with injuries at the beginning" and the resulting lack of rhythm afterwards. In the league, the sixth in the table now needs "consistency in our performance" in order to still achieve the desired goal.

"If we qualify for the Champions League this season, it would be a great success, it would be at the top of the shelf," said Klopp. "But there are still a few minutes of football to play."

In any case, the minutes in Madrid were not enough to bring about a turnaround. Real won in the end thanks to Karim Benzema's goal in the 79th minute. "The only shortcoming we can blame ourselves for is the conversion of chances. It could have been better," said Real's German international Antonio Rüdiger.