Four losses that define Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool era so far
Calamity Karius in Kiev
Kiev. May 26th 2018.
Sevilla had won the previous two Europa League’s before meeting Liverpool in the final in 2016 – the same can be said for Real Madrid in Europe’s elite competition, the UEFA Champions League.
After Liverpool had defeated Porto, Manchester City and AS Roma, it was thought they could really challenge Los Blancos in Ukraine.
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Loris Karius however did not have his greatest day – in fact, it was his worst, and it will sadly define his career.
He rolled the ball straight into Karim Benzema who will never score a more easy yet fortunate goal in his esteemed career. Sadio Mane equalised in the dying embers of the first half, and the Reds were level after 45.
However, a wonder-goal from Gareth Bale followed by a less than wondrous second – Karius fumbling it into his own net from Bale’s shot – saw Madrid lift their 13th Champions League title, and a third consecutively under Zinedine Zidane.
The significance of this defeat is huge – in a positive way.
This allowed Liverpool to know what it is like to lose a final. A major final. They could have gone down in history.
Jurgen Klopp was spotted chanting the day after:
"“We saw the European Cup, Madrid had all the f***ing luck, but we’ll just keep on being cool, and bring it back to Liverpool!”"
Well a year later, they did.
Their performance in the Madrid 2019 final against Tottenham wasn’t dissimilar to Real’s performance to win the trophy in Kiev – nullify the opponents and use your experience.
This experience is what was gained in Kiev.