All the stats as Liverpool suffer yet more final heartache…
Liverpool’s pursuit of a sixth European Cup fell agonisingly short on Saturday night as reigning champs Real Madrid overcame them 3-1 in the final in Kiev.
Manager Jürgen Klopp named the same starting X1 as for the second leg of the semi-final success over AS Roma, while opposite number Zinedine Zidane fielded the same line-up that had lifted the trophy 12 months prior.
Liverpool’s hopes of success received a huge blow when top-scorer Mohamed Salah was forced from the field during the first half with a painful-looking shoulder injury.
His replacement, Adam Lallana, struggled to make an impact, unlike Real’s Gareth Bale who emerged from the bench on the hour mark to score twice after Sadio Mané had earlier equalised Karim Benzema’s opener.
It was a night to forget for Kop keeper Loris Karius, who was culpable for the first and third goals conceded.
The defeat means English clubs have now lost their past seven UEFA club competition finals against Spanish opposition (four Champions League finals and three UEFA Cup/Europa League finals).
What do you think about this article? Let us know your thoughts and opinions below or via social media…
Follow me on Twitter @superbag
At Vital Liverpool we’re always looking for contributors so if you’re an LFC fan who wants to share his or her opinion with the masses, simply email articles/blogs to liverpool@vitalfootball.co.uk | ||
NSC Olimpiyskiy Stadium
Champions League Final
26/05/2018 7:45 pm
Attendance: 61561
Referee: Milorad Mazic
Real Madrid | Liverpool | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Benzema 51' Bale 64', 83' | Mané 55' | ||||||
Keylor Navas | Loris Karius | ||||||
Dani Carvajal | 37 | Trent Alexander-Arnold | |||||
Sergio Ramos (c) | Dejan Lovren | ||||||
Raphaël Varane | Virgil van Dijk | ||||||
Marcelo | Andrew Robertson | ||||||
Casemiro | Jordan Henderson (c) | ||||||
Toni Kroos | Georginio Wijnaldum | ||||||
Luka Modrić | James Milner | 83 | |||||
Isco | 61 | Sadio Mané | |||||
Cristiano Ronaldo | Mohamed Salah | 30 | |||||
Karim Benzema | 89 | Roberto Firmino | |||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
Kiko Casilla | Simon Mignolet | ||||||
Nacho | 37 | Nathaniel Clyne | |||||
Theo Hernández | Ragnar Klavan | ||||||
Mateo Kovačić | Alberto Moreno | ||||||
Gareth Bale | 61 | Emre Can | 83 | ||||
Lucas Vázquez | Adam Lallana | 30 | |||||
Marco Asensio | 89 | Dominic Solanke |
Game Statistics |
||
14 | Goal attempts | 13 |
5 | On Target | 2 |
9 | Corners | 5 |
5 | Fouls | 18 |
0 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
0 | Red Cards | 0 |
66 | % | 34 |