Juergen Klopp: "If you become passive against Real Madrid, they punish you"

MADRID, 22 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Liverpool coach, Juergen Klopp, considered that it was key for them to go from "an excellent start" on Tuesday to being "passive", something that "punishes" a team like Real Madrid, which ended up imposing its meeting script in this first leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League.

"The start was excellent. It was exactly us, the way we wanted to play and we were giving them problems all over the field, we read the game well, it was a super intense start and we got 2-0", Klopp remarked to 'BT Sport' after the meeting.

The German coach thought it was "good throughout the first half" despite losing the advantage and regretted that they became "a little more passive, quite up the field." "We no longer pressed when we had to and if you become passive against this team, it punishes you," he warned.

In this sense, he believes that the defense in the 2-3 of Eder Militao "was not acceptable" and assured that being at a disadvantage did not help them "against a team that is so excellent in counterattacking." "We ended up playing their game and we couldn't get hooked on the game because they had more confidence. It was a strange game, but we lost 5-2 and there's a lot to keep from him," he said.