Liverpool v Read Madrid: Jurgen Klopp puts himself through 'torture' in bid to get the better of Spanish rivals

There was chaos before the showpiece, with fans outside the Stade de France trapped in serious congestion and tear-gassed by police. Thousands missed the delayed kick-off of a game Klopp’s team lost 1-0.

The atmosphere inside the stadium suffered as a result and Klopp found reviewing the footage painful, although he believes his team did everything to win the game.

He said: “I didn’t watch it back until this weekend. The thing I realised immediately was now I know why I didn’t watch it back – but I had to.

“It was proper torture because we played a good game and could have won and that’s the decisive word – could – but didn’t because they scored and we didn’t.

“What looked like held us back a little was it was a final. In the little moments we were not adventurous enough, we were super-protected because of the possible counter-attack threat.

“Analysing it is super-easy. It was a little bit of feeling that we needed an extra spark and could have made it.”

Defeat extended Liverpool’s winless run against the 14-time European champions to six matches (five defeats, one draw), with Klopp’s record as Reds boss reading four defeats – including two finals – and a draw.

Liverpool have lost to Real more times (five) than they have to any other team in European competition and the Spanish club’s coach Carlo Ancelotti has lost only five of his 17 encounters with them, winning nine. His last victory at Anfield came as Everton manager in January 2021, the club’s first at the ground in 22 years.

It means the two clubs share a lot of recent history and know each other well going into their last 16, first-leg tie at Anfield.

Klopp remains hopeful forward Darwin Nunez will be fit after injuring his shoulder in Saturday’s win at Newcastle. The Uruguay international took part in open training on the eve of the game, but it remains to be seen whether the injury will affect his readiness for the match.