Diogo Jota woeful, but 'amazing' player gets a 10/10: Liverpool player ratings vs Real Madrid

Liverpool failed to inspire even a whiff of a miracle in Madrid tonight as they laboured to a 1-0 loss at the Santiago Bernabeu.

5-2 down from the first-leg, urgency and verve were needed from the Reds. In the end they got neither. Plodding through seemingly unaware that they needed at least three goals, Liverpool never looked like pulling off the impossible in Spain.

Here’s how we rated the players as Jurgen Klopp’s side exited the Champions League with barely a whimper.

Defence

Alisson: 10 – Not for the first time this season, Liverpool were once again completely indebted to their goalkeeper this evening. Two quite stunning saves in the first-half were backed up by another lovely one second-half with Federico Valverded in one-on-one. Deserves better.

Trent Alexander-Arnold: 5 – Did reasonably well up against Vinicius Jnr but guilty of too many sloppy pieces of play in possession. Provided a string of wasteful corners in the first-half.

Ibrahima Konate: 7 – Helped with the threat of Vinicius, who barely got past him all evening. You can’t help but feel Liverpool would have stood a better chance had he been fit for the first-leg at Anfield.

Virgil van Dijk: 6 – Looked commanding and assured, winning some big headers first-half. Gets a point knocked up for some indecisive defending for the goal.

Andy Robertson: 5 – Simply has to use the ball better in forward positions. Disappointing.

Midfield

James Milner: 5 – As ever, doggedly stuck to his task but was toyed with by Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Eduardo Camavinga in particular. Contributed to Liverpool having virtually no midfield all first-half. Shouldn’t be starting these games, but there were few other options for Jurgen.

Fabinho: 4 – Had a big job alongside Milner but looked back to his leggy worst at times. So immobile against the midfield three of Madrid.

Attack

Mohamed Salah: 6 – Looked relatively sharp from the outset but never managed to get himself close enough to the goal. Should have done better with a ball to put Darwin Nunez in second-half, but undercooked the pass.

Diogo Jota: 3 – Woefully ineffective. Aside from slicing a decent volley wide, you barely noticed him on the pitch first-half, More noticeable second as he appeared to try his best to foul every Madrid player on the pitch.

Cody Gakpo: 5 – As we’ve become used to seeing from Gakpo, showed some nice touches to get the Reds into decent areas. Stung the palms of Thibaut Courtois and kept trying, but needed more help from those around him.

Darwin Nunez: 6 – Liverpool’s biggest threat without a doubt, but couldn’t quite find his shooting boots. Saw a good effort tipped away by Courtois and ran Carvajal well at times. Bizarrely hooked early into the second-half.

Substitutes

Roberto Firmino: 5

Harvey Elliott: 4

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain: 6 – Showed some nice feet and a nice bit of urgency. Perhaps should have been introduced earlier.

Kostas Tsimikas: N/A

Fabio Carvalho: N/A

Jurgen Klopp: 3 – Not sure what the manager said to the team this evening, but they never looked like doing the job they needed to. Not good enough.

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