Jurgen Klopp claims Thibaut Courtois' Man of the Match award in the Champions League final shows that "something was wrong" for his Liverpool side.
The Reds peppered the Real Madrid goal, forcing the Belgian to produce several excellent saves, with Los Blancos striking the killer blow in the second-half courtesy of Vinicius Jnr's tap in, which proved to be the winner in Paris.
Liverpool headed into the showpiece event at favourites as they sought revenge for the defeat in Kyiv four years ago at the hands of the Spanish side. But Sadio Mane saw a first-half effort pushed onto the post before Mo Salah was twice denied in the second 45.
Klopp has previously showed his frustration when his side dominate games but lose to a team who adopt a more conservative approach. That was again the theme as he said: "They scored a goal, we didn't. That's the easiest explanation in the world of football. Harsh, but we respect it of course. When the goalkeeper is man of the match something is wrong. Something is going wrong for the other team.
"I think Madrid had one shot on target and it was a goal. But I understand 100% and respect it 100% that the reason for playing football and having competitions is to win the game. Whatever you do, within the rules, is completely fine. We played a good game, but when you lose 1-0 you have to admit it wasn't good enough."
All in all Liverpool had nine shots on target as their sensational season ended with just two trophies - the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. Klopp and his team had their sights on the quadruple a week ago but have narrowly missed out on the Premier League and in Europe.
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Courtois moved to Madrid from Chelsea back in 2018. He's claimed a league and European double with Los Blancos and spoke of a lack of respect he felt he has from those back in England.
He claimed: "I said that when Madrid plays finals, they win. I was on the good side of history. I saw a lot of tweets coming my way that I would get humbled today - it was the other way round.
"Today I needed to win a final for my career, for all the hard work to put respect on my name as I don't think I get enough respect, especially in England. I saw a lot of criticism even after a great season. I am really proud of the team. We stuck to it and when I needed to be there I was there for the team."
