Jürgen Klopp does not want to give up hope for the quarter-finals of the Champions League with Liverpool FC after the crashing 2:5 against Real Madrid. "We're going there, I can already say, and we'll try to win the game. Whether that is possible or not, I do not know. But we'll try and then see," he said on Tuesday evening after Liverpool had given up 2-0 in the first leg of the knockout round.

Immediately after the game, of course, he had the feeling that things had gone well. "That's how it is in such moments. But the closer you get to the game, the bigger the chances get and the less likely it is that our game was over," Klopp said.

The Times had seen a "total capitulation" of his team, "Liverpool suffered perhaps the worst defeat in an extremely disappointing season". The club had conceded its "worst home defeat" ever on the European stage, wrote the Telegraph.

Liverpool and the comebacks

Darwin Nunez (4th) and Mohamed Salah (14th) had put the hosts in the lead – Vinicius Junior (21st, 36th), Eder Militao (47th) and Karim Benzema (55th, 67th) also with two goals provided a football spectacle at Anfield Road. "We still believed in ourselves, but to come back like that is just crazy," said Real's central defender Antonio Rüdiger. "After the 0-2 loss, we said to ourselves: We only need one goal – fortunately we did that quickly. After that, our confidence was there, and everything went a little easier," said the national football player.

Klopp, meanwhile, praised above all the strong initial phase of his team, which had already taken a 14-2 lead after 0 minutes. "The whole first half was good, apart from the goals we conceded," said Klopp, who described the equaliser by double scorer Vinicius Junior as "slapstick" – Reds keeper Alisson Becker had shot at his Brazilian compatriot: "That should not happen. That's strange."

Both teams had faced each other in the final of the Champions League in 2018 and 2022, in both cases Real won. While Madrid underlined its title ambitions with the comeback, Liverpool is on the verge of elimination. But Liverpool also has experience with comebacks, as shown above all by the legendary semi-final duel with FC Barcelona in the title season 2018/2019. There, too, the Reds lost the first leg with three goals (0:3), but beat the Catalans 4:0 in the second leg and finally secured the Champions League victory in the final against Tottenham (2:0). At that time, however, the second leg took place at home Anfield Road, this time Liverpool travels to Madrid for the second leg.

However, the hope for a fundamental turnaround of the team, which has been stumbling so much this season, has fizzled out for the time being. For the first time in the club's history, Liverpool have conceded five goals in a home game of an international competition. "This is a reality check," said former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard. "With any team that allows five goals, things have to be questioned." Klopp himself pointed out another difficulty. "We have to attack," he said, "and we have seen how well they counter. It's going to be a huge task."