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Jurgen Klopp reacts to incident during Liverpool’s 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid
Jurgen Klopp has responded when asked why he chose to take off Naby Keita and replace him with Thiago Alcantara during the first half of Liverpool’s 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid –
Real Madrid were electric on Tuesday night. The young defensive partnership of Nat Phillips and Ozan Kabak struggled to cope with Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior – the latter proving to be the difference in Spain.
A brilliant ball from Toni Kroos was finished superbly by Vinicius for the first, before a horrendous header from Trent Alexander-Arnold allowed Marco Asensio to net a second on 36 minutes. Keita was taken off on 42 minutes.
Liverpool did get one back through Mo Salah but Vinicius scored a third – one that Alisson should really have saved. Klopp explained his decision to take off £120,000-a-week () man Keita before the half-time whistle.
“It’s not a big story. I don’t like it to be honest. He wasn’t the only one. It was tactical. I could have done a few more changes in that moment, thank God I didn’t” Klopp remarked, after what was a poor first-half display.
TBR’s view – Decision to start Keita was a strange one
Before the 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid, Keita had started just once in 2021 for Liverpool – the 1-0 defeat to Fulham. So, to see him included in the side over Thiago was a big shock, and one that did not pay off for Klopp.
Had he started Thiago, Liverpool might have had a bit more control throughout the first half and nullified the likes of Kroos and Luka Modric – who proved to be the difference despite their combined age of 66.
Plenty to do in the second leg, for Liverpool.
