Jurgen Klopp says two Liverpool players really struggled against Real Madrid last night

By Milo Clay

Jurgen Klopp has told Liverpool’s official website that Darwin Nunez and Diogo Jota really struggled against Real Madrid last night. 

Liverpool crashed out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage after a 6-2 defeat on aggregate to Real Madrid. 

The Reds had it all to do at the Bernabeu after suffering a 5-2 defeat to Carlo Ancelotti’s men at Anfield last month. 

Klopp’s men didn’t really manage to trouble a resilient Madrid side on the night, despite carving out some decent openings.

Liverpool certainly had their moments in the game but they were also fortunate that Madrid were wasteful in-front of goal on the night. 

And Klopp has admitted that he thinks Jota and Nunez struggled against the European champions. 

Klopp on Nunez and Jota displays 

Speaking to Liverpool’s official website, Klopp said that both Jota and Nunez weren’t at their best in the Spanish capital last night. 

“For Diogo, it was clear that he should not play now extremely long because he is still coming back from a long, long injury,” he said. “You could see the game got harder and harder for him, little fouls there, one, two, three, he is not a player who is usually fouling so perhaps he comes a bit late. So, no risk with him and we have options on the bench. 

“Yes, Darwin looked like he was not on the absolute top level as well and then we need to defend that side as well because conceding a goal is not helpful in that situation. Yeah, we can change there, that’s why we did it. We wanted to mix it a little bit, that’s true.” 

Klopp decided to take both Jota and Nunez off for Harvey Elliott and Roberto Firmino in the 57th minute. 

It’s fair to say that Jota looked way off the pace after the 26-year-old has only just returned from a lengthy spell on the sidelines. 

But Nunez arguably looked like Liverpool’s biggest threat on the night and it seemed harsh for him to be taken off before the likes of Cody Gakpo. 

The 23-year-old has put in some promising displays of late and seems to be finding his feet in Klopp’s side, even if the German feels he wasn’t at his best last night. 

Liverpool will now be bidding to secure their place in the competition next season and they face a battle to finish inside the top-four. 

Klopp will be hoping that Jota returns to full match sharpness after returning from injury, while Nunez will be hoping to build on his promising form.