Liverpool limped out of the Champions League on Wednesday night when Real Madrid beat them 1-0 at the Santiago Bernabeu.

 

Their 5-2 defeat at home in the first leg put Liverpool on the back foot in the tie and there was to be no comeback in the Spanish capital for the Merseyside giants.

 

 

Van Dijk admitted that getting back into the game was always going to be difficult after the first-leg performance.

 

He stressed that was the disappointment, the fact that Liverpool were more or less out of the tie even before the second leg.

 

 

The Liverpool defender pointed out that Real Madrid never looked under any pressure and their top players remained calm in order to see the tie out.

 

Van Dijk told Dutch broadcaster RTL7: “It was difficult.

 

 

“I think the damage was already done in Liverpool and that was the biggest disappointment.

 

“You played against a team who never look stressed.

 

“They always stay calm, even when we were putting pressure on them, just look at the difference makers like Luka Modric and [Karim] Benzema.

 

“If we had scored in the first half it could have been a different game but in the second half, we just fell short.”

 

Jurgen Klopp has claimed that Liverpool’s next three Premier League games could seal their top-four fate, one way or the other.