KEIR RADNEDGE in KIEV: Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp regretted Liverpool’s lack of the touch of luck needed by every club in a major final after their 3-1 defeat by Real Madrid in the Champions League showdown here.

This was Klopp’s sixth successive defeat in finals in Germany and Europe and his second in a Champions League decider after Borussia Dortmund’s Wembley failure against Bayern Munich in 2013.

He easily pinpointed the decisive issues as the first-half injury which forced top-scoring Footballer of the Year Mohamed Salah off the pitch – possibly out of the World Cup – and the two blunders by keeper Loris Karius which provided Madrid with their first and third goals for Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale.

Klopp said: “Of course the Salah injury was a big moment in the game. That always sounds like being a bad loser but it was a harsh challenge because it was like wrestling a bit and it was bad luck that Mo fell on his shoulder. It’s a really serious injury and the shock for the boys was obvious.

““It was bad for us, bad for Mo and bad for Egypt. I don’t like that part of the sport that things like this can happen.

“We adjusted a few things and played a bit more football but then the other decisive moments were the goals. They were quite strange but that’s how it is. Bale’s bicycle kick was an unbelievable goal but we had the post and set pieces.”

Support for Karius

Salah was taken directly to hospital in Kiev for X-rays but it may be several days before he knows the full extent of the injury to his left shoulder and prospects of recovery in time for next month’s World Cup in Russia.

Klopp then turned to the issue of Karius who was his personal transfer choice two years ago to become Liverpool’s No1 goalkeeper but who had established himself only in the second half of this season.

He said: “I really feel for him. Nobody wants that. The mistakes were obvious. He knows it. I know it. You all know it. He has to deal with it. We have to deal with it. We will be with him.

“I’m turning 51 next month so I have lost games before and won games. I know how to deal with that but you cannot avoid the feeling you have in the night after the game. We all feel really, really bad. We wanted everything and we got nothing or even minus something because of the injury to Mo.

“We not only lost a very important player and so maybe Egypt lost a very important  player for the World Cup.”

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