Adrian not to blame for Liverpool Champions League exit, insists Jurgen Klopp

Out: Liverpool and Adrian
Action Images via Reuters
David Lynch11 March 2020

Jurgen Klopp has pleaded for a ‘respectful’ reaction to the Adrian error that saw Liverpool dumped out of the Champions League by Atletico Madrid.

Trailing 1-0 on aggregate going into this evening’s second leg, goals from Gini Wijnaldum and Roberto Firmino had put the Reds on course to reach the quarter-finals by the first half of extra-time.

However, a loose pass from their back-up goalkeeper - who had been picked in the absence of the injured Alisson Becker - allowed Marcos Llorente to score and turn the tie irretrievably back in the visitors’ favour.

Asked whether he had attempted to console the Spaniard at full-time, Klopp replied: “He’s a man and he knows that’s how it is.

“We will not blame him for a second - what you do, I don’t know, but stay respectful, that would be really nice.

In Pictures | Liverpool vs Atletico Madrid | 11/03/2020

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“He did not want to do that, he saved us in so many moments when he played. Since he’s here, he had super performances.

“This goal didn’t help tonight but that’s how it is. I said, if you lose a game you always lose for some [different] reasons.

Action Images via Reuters

“Tonight, this was not the moment that we lost the game, but it had a big impact. We should not say it was not like this because it was obvious but that’s it.

“We conceded more goals after this and we didn’t score the goals in other situations. We had plenty of reasons why we didn’t go through.

“How it is in life, especially when your job is in public, people judge you. But he’s a grown man and he will deal with that.

“We will help him with that but I don’t think he needs it, to be honest.”

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