Jurgen Klopp has labelled Real Madrid’s decision to play You’ll Never Walk Alone at the Bernabeu last night as a ‘really nice gesture’.
The La Liga giants dumped Liverpool out of the Champions League after defeating them 6-2 on aggregate across both legs of the last-16 tie and after the full-time whistle was sounded in the Spanish capital, the famous anthem rung around the ground with supporters from both sides joining in.
Despite the ‘disappointing’ result for the Reds, the German tactician insisted that there is a lot of respect between the ‘two heavyweights’ and he accepts the result because the Spaniards were the ‘better side’.
“It was a really nice gesture,” Klopp said (as quoted by the Liverpool Echo). “We are two heavyweights who meet each other quite frequently in international competition and it’s clear we respect each other a lot and however we did something like that, it was a really nice gesture I have to say.
“I was not angry after the game, I was disappointed. I would be angry if we would have played better and it was close and they won because of a penalty which isn’t a penalty or things like that, but in the end that all didn’t happen. Real Madrid was just the better side. I’m long enough in the business to respect that.”
It was confirmed following the game that the famous anthem was played as a thank you gesture for Liverpool after the Reds paid tribute to Real Madrid legend Amancio Amaro at Anfield three weeks ago.
Last night’s performance was a disappointing one and although it would’ve been nice if it was us progressing through to the next round, it was still a classy gesture from the 14-time European Cup winners.
It was sad to see how superior Carlo Ancelotti’s side were across the two legs and the result proves that we must strengthen our squad in the summer and complete some decent business in the transfer market.