Jurgen Klopp was crestfallen at the manner of Liverpool’s Champions League defeat to Real Madrid, with Mohamed Salah facing World Cup heartbreak and Loris Karius left battling “dark thoughts”.
The Reds endured a nightmare night as they went down 3-1 in Kiev, with player of the year Salah suffering a first-half shoulder injury which threatens his participation for Egypt this summer.
If possible, Karius suffered an even worse night as he shipped two of the most lamentable goals in the history of European finals.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was downcast after his side lost to Real Madrid in the Champions League final (Nick Potts/PA)
The first saw him hurl the ball into Karim Benzema’s outstretched leg for the softest of opening goals before throwing in a long-ranger from Gareth Bale, who had already produced a magical bicycle kick.
On Salah, Klopp told BT Sport: “It is unbelievable. He would have played on if anything was possible. I didn’t see him, maybe he’s in the hospital at the moment for an X-ray.
“It doesn’t look good.”
As for Karius, who was inconsolable at the final whistle, Klopp was almost speechless.
“What can I say? Loris knows it, everyone knows it. That’s it.”
“It’s a shame it was in a game like this, after a season like this. I really feel for him, a fantastic boy.
“The second one is because of the first one. It’s really difficult to get rid of bad thoughts you have in your mind.
“It was not the best script for us tonight.”
Klopp has earned rave reviews for the work he has done at Anfield this season, promoting a thrilling brand of attacking football but he has yet to shake off his poor run in finals.
He has now lost his last six showpieces, three with Liverpool and three with Borussia Dortmund.
“The plan is only to play for winning, nothing else,” he said.
“There’s not a lot to say about the rest to be honest. We scored one, they scored three…that’s it.”
Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson refused to blame Karius for the defeat, insisting the club would rise and fall as one.
“It’s not about him and mistakes he might have made,” he told BT Sport.
“It’s about us as a team, we got here together as a team and we lose as a team.
“We’re all together, it’s not just about one person. We were just not good enough to get over the line.”
The England midfielder also promised to bounce back as quickly as possible for club and country.
“It’s going to hurt for a while but football moves forward, we’ve got the World Cup coming and we’ve got to quickly move on because the season starts quickly after that.
“We’re proud to get here and we got beaten by a fantastic team. We’ve got a fantastic squad and a fantastic manager and we’ve got to use that to keep going forward.”
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