Liverpool were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter finals, after drawing 0-0 with Real Madrid at Anfield on Wednesday night.
Jurgen Klopp’s side went into the home leg of the tie 3-1 down, having been outplayed in Madrid a week ago, and needed one of their famous nights at Anfield to complete the comeback.
Mohamed Salah should have given the Reds the lead inside two minutes when he found himself clean through but could only fire straight at Thibaut Courtois. The Belgian goalkeeper also made a brilliant save to deny James Milner from range.
The visitors came to defend but always possessed that threat whenever they had the ball and almost took the lead in comical fashion as they hit the post after Ozan Kabak tackled Karim Benzema.
Things got heated midway through the first half as a late Casemiro tackle on James Milner sparked a touchline fracas with Andy Robertson, although Zinedine Zidane appeared to enjoy the view.
The home side continued to probe and nearly got in as Sadio Mane almost got on the end of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s cross but they had two big chances in the final few minutes before the break.
First, Salah failed to effectively dig out a decent effort after good work by Georginio Wijnaldum and Mane. And moments later, Wijnaldum made a complete hash of a clear shot at goal.
The hosts had the best of the play on the night and created several extremely good chances at Thibaut Courtois’ goal but their finishing wasn’t up to much.
Around 400 home fans gathered outside in an attempt to fashion some of the old atmosphere but sadly the only impact they made was to create more negative headlines with a disgraceful attack on the Real Madrid team coach that left the bus damaged. The Spanish giants received an apology from their opponents and Merseyside Police announced an investigation to find those responsible.
From 15 shots on the Real goal, the Premier League champions could muster just four on target as they drew a blank against the 13 times European champions, who booked their place against Chelsea in the semi-finals.
With the final in Istanbul this year, the scene of Liverpool’s famous final victory in 2005, the club will have been desperate to make it back there.
The loss means that Klopp’s side will be trophyless for the first time in three seasons, having already been knocked out of both domestic cups and being mathematically out of the English Premier League title race.
