Liverpool defender Virgil Van Dijk admits they face an “almost impossible” challenge to keep their Champions League dream alive, after the tough 2-5 first-leg defeat to Real Madrid in the round of 16.
those of jurgen klopp They took the lead 2-0 at Anfield on Tuesday but ended up conceding five goals in a meeting with the 14-time champions, their biggest home defeat in Europe.
“We have an impossible task in Madrid in three weeksbut when the time comes, we will concentrate and give everything to represent the club in the best possible way,” he said. Van Dijk.
“The only thing we can do is learn from it and make sure it doesn’t happen in our next game, which is against Crystal Palace (on Saturday). It seems easy enough but it is not, that is the harsh reality”.
“If you look at the last two games, we played well (beating Everton and Newcastle) and that’s something we need to focus on as well so we don’t panic.”
He Liverpool had an idyllic start to the game on Tuesday, when the Uruguayan Darwin Núñez and Mohamed Salah put the score in favor of their team 2-0, in the first quarter of an hour, looking for revenge after losing the last Champions League final against Madrid in Paris.
But Vinícius equalized in the first half, and the Reds collapsed after the break. Éder Militão converted the goal that put Real Madrid ahead, and Karim Benzema scored two more goals to seal the game.
Also read: Klopp sees no opportunity to come back against Real Madrid
“They have quality players in the whole team, they can punish you for your mistakes, and that’s what they did, especially in the second half,” the Dutchman asserted.
“It’s quite clear that we made mistakes that we shouldn’t, but that happens in football. we are not robots“.
The painful defeat compounds a difficult season for Liverpool, who have been knocked out of the English League Cup and FA Cup and are stuck in 8th place in the Premier League.
The Merseysiders have conceded three or more goals eight times this season, and the possible injury to Joe Gomez, who was taken off the field as a precaution, worsens the team’s defensive problems.
With two games less, Liverpool is seven points behind Tottenham, fourth in the Premier League, and still has 16 games to try to salvage their season by qualifying for the next Champions League.
Van Dijk said that the only way out of this crisis is to “stay united.”
“Everyone is angry, everyone is obviously disappointed, but the next game is in four days, and if we want to perform there has to be a change. And that is what we will do, ”she assured.
