Liverpool midfielder James Milner has urged his team to bounce back in their next match against Newcastle after suffering their biggest defeat of the season against Barcelona yesterday.
Barcelona went 1-0 up thanks to former Liverpool man Luis Suarez. Liverpool had some really good chances to equalise with Sadio Mane coming agonisingly close. However, they were unable to score.
Lionel Messi eventually struck twice to put Barcelona 3-0 up including a remarkable free-kick that brought up his 600th career goal.
Speaking about the defeat, Milner told beIN Sports, “I think at this stage of the competition the result is the only thing that matters really. Maybe we can take heart that we created chances in the game and we should have probably taken a couple of those, but it didn’t happen and they are a top team who are always going to create chances and they took them.
We can be proud of our play, but at this stage of the competition you need to get the result. With the score at 3-0 we needed a goal desperately at that point. But before that we were confident that we would score, and it’s important to get a goal when you are away from home in the first leg.
With the players they have got it will be tough to keep a clean sheet [at Anfield] but we’ve defended well all year, so if we can keep a clean sheet and start well then let’s see what happens. It’s tough to take at this stage of the competition and with the performance we put in. But when you come to places like this with the players they have, it’s always going to be tough.
We’ve obviously got to bounce back first for the weekend, pick ourselves up again after this disappointment. But I think we’ve all seen the heart in the dressing room before and the drive, the team spirit. We will be ready to go at the weekend.
Hopefully we can get the result and get a bit of positive feeling going into the second leg.”
With the 3-0 defeat, Liverpool need to win the second leg 4-0 at least if they are to qualify for their second straight Champions League final.
Also Read: What Jurgen Klopp told his players after morale smashing Barcelona defeat
