Jurgen Klopp has defended goalkeeper Adrian after Liverpool’s Champions League exit.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has defended Adrian after his mistake allowed Atletico Madrid to score an extra time away goal which set them up to win 3-2 at Anfield last night.
As per the Telegraph, Klopp admitted Adrian made a blunder but said that wasn’t the moment the tie was lost and said he had saved the club on many occasions.
He said: “Everyone saw their first goal. Adrian is a super player but at this moment it is the wrong decision. He’s a man and he knows that’s how it is. We will not blame him for a second – what you do, I don’t know, but stay respectful. He did not want to do that, he saved us in so many moments when he played. This goal didn’t help, but that’s how it is.
“I said, if you lose a game you always lose for some (different) reasons. Tonight, this was not the moment we lost the game, but it had a big impact. The first goal is pretty obvious but come on, Adrian has saved us so many times since he’s here. We conceded more goals after this and we didn’t score the goals in other situations.”
Klopp is not the type of manager to throw a player under the bus, just like when he protected Loris Karius back in 2018 after an even more high profile error.
He is right to say that Liverpool could have scored another goal thereafter, or defended more tightly on both Marcos Llorente’s strikes.
Goalkeeping is a lonely profession and Adrian will be pleased that he has the backing of his manager after a very testing night for a man who isn’t used to that level of scrutiny, with this being his first season at an elite club.
Liverpool’s forwards missed a hatful of chances which would have meant that the tie didn’t even go to extra time and this is such a tight-knit group that they will likely acknowledge that together.
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