Liverpool’s Champions League hopes are in serious doubt after they were soundly beaten by Real Madrid at the Alfredo Di Stefano Stadium.

Liverpool have it all to do at Anfield after losing the first-leg of their Champions League quarter final 3-1 against Real Madrid.

The Reds would have hoped to carry the kind of form they showed in the win over Arsenal, but their first half display was a stark contrast to that showing.

Jurgen Klopp’s men struggled to retain possession and when Real opened the scoring it was richly deserved.

Just before the half-hour mark Toni Kroos picked out Vinicius Jr. who ran through on goal and fired past Alisson.

It was 2-0 ten minutes later when a Trent Alexander-Arnold error allowed Marco Asensio to dink the ball over the Liverpool keeper before poking into an empty net.

However, the visitors came out a different side after the break and Mohamed Salah netted an away goal after latching onto a scuffed Diogo Jota shot.

But minutes later Real re-established their two-goal lead when a Vinicius shot squeezed under Allison.

And that’s how it stayed, meaning Liverpool will need to win well next week in order to secure a place in the final four.

While all hope is not lost, there will be a few regrets for Klopp as his squad jet back to England.

Prior to the game in Madrid, Ozan Kabak’s most difficult afternoon came in the defeat to Leicester City at the King Power.

Many of those issues stemmed from Liverpool playing a high line and Jamie Vardy and Co. running beyond them.

And it was much of the same against Real with Vinicius and Asensio running in behind time after time.

There were points in the second half where it appeared Liverpool had forgot this was a two-legged encounter, such was the amount of bodies being thrown forward.

Against this kind of forward line, it was a grave mistake.