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Jürgen Klopp had a plan to systematically take Atlético Madrid apart, and his players carried it out to near-perfection right up until Roberto Firmino made it 2-0 in the 94th minute to end his season-long Anfield goal drought and put Liverpool in the box seat of the tie.

Had the game ended at that very moment, it would have gone down as a masterclass in how to grind one of the most stubborn defensive sides in Europe into submission. From the first whistle, Liverpool were relentless in all aspects of their play, keeping Atlético pinned back with all ten outfield players camped inside their own defensive half for large periods.

Liverpool passed with purpose and precision, hunted the ball down with intelligence and intensity, consistently won their individual battles, dragged Atlético out of shape and carved out chances at will. Were it not for the fact the visitors had one of the very best goalkeepers on the planet in Jan Oblak bailing them out time and time again with a succession of vital interventions, Liverpool could easily have been coasting into the quarter-finals well before the 90 minute mark.

Such was the excellence of the Slovenian stopper, combined with Liverpool's failure to hammer home their clear superiority on the scoreline, that Atlético always had a foothold to cling on to, despite being comprehensively outplayed and barely being able to progress out of their own penalty area at times.

Had Liverpool held their 2-0 lead until half-time in extra-time, they may well have been able to see the game out and suck any remaining belief away from Atlético's players, who had shown little to no inclincation to try and score a goal themselves before then.

At which point, they were presented a gift in a manner so completely unnecessary and out of context with everything that came before, that it brought back dark memories of Loris Karius in Kyiv in 2018. Granted, Adrián's howler here wasn't quite as spectacular in its nature, but it was an individual error which turned the entire complexion of the tie on its head at a pivotal juncture, effectively undoing in an instant what had been a consummate team performance.

Not only did the Spaniard create the scenario in the first place by clearing the ball straight to Joao Felix, he then didn't even get remotely close to stopping the effort from Marcos Llorente which put Atlético straight back in control without them mounting any kind of sustained pressure on Liverpoool whatsoever.

It was difficult not to wonder how differently events would have almost certainly panned out had Alisson Becker been on the pitch, as Liverpool received another harsh reminder of why goalkeeper is one of the most crucial positions on the pitch. The manner of Atlético's second goal was also hugely disappointing, crushing Liverpool's morale beyond repair before Alvaro Morata rubbed extra salt into the gaping wounds right at the death.

For this to be Klopp's first ever defeat in a two-legged European knock-out tie this far into his tenure is a marker of just how phenomenal Liverpool's continental record has been in recent years – but it could hardly have come crumbling down in a more deflating fashion than this, having played exactly like European champions for such a long time on the night.

In the context of Liverpool's season, it's a major disappointment to have two-thirds of a potential treble wiped off the cards in the space of just eight days, leaving the Premier League title as the only remaining box to be ticked (pending, of course, the constant and growing anxiety around the impact of a certain virus on the fixtures still left to be fulfilled).

For that to feel like an anti-climax of sorts seems almost churlish in one sense, because the league title has been considered the holy grail for so long, and Liverpool have strolled their way towards it so efficiently they've long obliterated any prospects of there even being a title race. Yet there's also a nagging element of regret at what might have been, because there was a genuine belief not so long ago that this team could go down as one of the greatest the sport as ever seen.

That may well still be the case, especially if they go on to smash the points record, but to be stripped of their European crown at this stage, in that manner, is a bitter pill to swallow.

The enormous psychological challenge now will be to pick themselves up off the floor to go to Goodison Park on Monday night and set up a date with destiny against Crystal Palace at Anfield the following weekend.