here for our brilliant Match Zone
They got what they came for: defeat with
honour. It is pointless Brendan Rodgers
trying to spin it any other way. There is no
way Liverpool could have hoped to win in
the Bernabeu Stadium with this team.
That they survived with dignity intact is as
much by luck as judgement. Yes,
Liverpool worked very hard, defended
tenaciously and goalkeeper Simon
Mignolet – one of the few first-team
regulars to keep his place – was
magnificent.
Yet it also needed Gareth Bale to hit the
bar, Cristiano Ronaldo to take one touch
too many repeatedly and Real Madrid,
collectively, to squander enough
