Jurgen Klopp accused UEFA referee Felix Brych of favouring Real Madrid after VAR didn’t review a foul on Sadio Mane by Lucas Vasquez in the first half of his side’s 3-1 defeat.
The English side was beaten 3-1 at the Alfredo Di Stefano stadium and it was purely due to their poor defensive display in the first half.
They started the game awfully, playing sloppy pass after sloppy pass and made schoolboy errors in defence to gift Madrid a 2-0 lead going into half-time.
While Klopp admitted that his side didn’t deserve the win, he was furious after a red card offence on Sadio Mane was committed by right-back Lucas Vasquez right before half-time.
MADRID, SPAIN – APRIL 06: Sadio Mane of Liverpool FC lies injured on the pitch during the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final match between Real Madrid and Liverpool FC at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano on April 06, 2021 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Diego Souto/Quality Sport Images/Getty Images)
The Liverpool Echo’s Ian Doyle reports that after Klopp told referee Felix Brych he was being ‘unfair’, the official replied: “What you’re doing now is unfair too.”
The score would have been 2-1 going into half-time and while that would have improved Liverpool’s chances, they still defended poorly after the break, allowing Vinicius Junior to score his second of the game virtually uncontested.
The Merseyside outfit now heads into the second leg two goals down but will feel relieved that they managed to score the all-important away goal. They can progress to the next round if they win 2-0 but they cannot let Real Madrid score an away goal of their own as that would make matters even worse.
MADRID, SPAIN – APRIL 06: Mohamed Salah of Liverpool celebrates after scoring their team’s first goal during the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final match between Real Madrid and Liverpool FC at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano on April 06, 2021 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images)
Liverpool are no strangers to needing to perform a heroic comeback in the Champions League but they will need to perform much better at Anfield than they did in the Spanish capital.
Klopp will also need to come up with a game plan to deal with the threat of Vinicius Junior after he spent the 90 minutes harassing and toying with Alexander-Arnold.
