Liverpool's Champions League defence came to an end at Anfield as a 4-2 aggregate defeat meant Diego Simeone's Atleti progressed to the quarter-finals.
![Liverpool goalkeeper Adrian looks dejected. [Getty]](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/70fb8e_fb41b5a2ec8d44429dd66916a5324a50~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_980,h_405,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/70fb8e_fb41b5a2ec8d44429dd66916a5324a50~mv2.jpg)
Jurgen Klopp says goalkeeper Adrian is not to blame for Liverpool's Champions League loss to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, but the 33-year-old is aware of his error.
The German believes the shotstopper's error had a major impact on the match at Anfield last night, but he wasn't solely to blame for the Reds exiting Europe's elite competition.
The Merseyside club looked like they had overturned Atleti's 1-0 advantage from the first leg when Georginio Wijnaldum headed home late in the first half and Roberto Firmino increased the deficit in extra-time, but a poor clearance from Adrian led to Marcos Llorente's goal for Atletico.
And, Llorente scored another goal before Alvaro Morata's dying minute finish added salt to injury for the homeside.
When quizzed if Adrian's mistake was the reason for his side's Champions League exit, Klopp said: "He's a man and he knows that's how it is.
"We will not blame him for a second – what you do, I don't know, but stay respectful, that would be really nice because he didn't want to do that, he saved us in so many moments when he played. Since he's here, he had super performances.
"This goal didn't help tonight but that's how it is. I said, if you lose a game you always lose for some [different] reasons. Tonight, this was not the moment when we lost the game, but it had a big impact.
"We should not say it was not like this because it was obvious, but that's it. We conceded more goals after that and we didn't score the goals in other situations. We had plenty of reasons why we didn't go through.
"How it is in life, especially when your job is in public, people judge you. But he's a man, a grown man, and he will deal with that. We will help him with that but I don't think he needs it, to be honest."
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