‘It feels like we lost the game,’ says Klopp

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said a point in Seville “felt like a defeat” and his side stopped playing football to lose a 3-0 lead.

An equaliser in the third minute of injury time denied Liverpool qualification into the last 16 of the Champions League, completing a horrific second half.

Earlier, Roberto Firmino’s double and Sadio Mane had put Klopp’s side on the brink of the knockout stages.

“It feels like we lost the game, they feel like they won, but they didn’t. That’s our business, that’s our life,” said Klopp.

“Before the game if you tell me it’s a draw I say OK, we are sitting in first place it is not worst thing. But after the first half we want to win.

“The description (of the game) is easy. Fantastic first half for us, the second half we made a mistake. We didn’t carry on playing football. We became passive, they scored the first, then it was obvious the atmosphere changed immediately.”

Liverpool have made a habit of surrendering positions of authority under Klopp, but he dismissed the idea there was a mental issue with his players easing off when in front.

“We showed already fantastic mentality in a lot of other games,” said Klopp. “Could we have done better? 100 per cent. Do I think it’s a mentality problem? 100 per cent not. It was misjudgment.”