Liverpool legend Steve Nicol has slammed his former side’s players for their reaction to the Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid this week. Atletico beat Liverpool 1-0 in the first leg of their last-16 tie at the Wanda Metropolitano on Tuesday. An early goal from Saul Niguez gave the La Liga side the advantage ahead of the return leg at Anfield next month.

After the match, Liverpool players, and to a lesser extent manager Jurgen Klopp, were critical of Atletico’s tactics. Left-back Andy Robertson claimed the Spanish side’s players were “falling over easily”. But Nicol says that reaction was the worst thing for Liverpool to do after the defeat. “I am absolutely shocked the Liverpool players and staff, manager, are stupid enough to take the bait and come and criticism a team [like that],” he said on ESPN FC. JUST IN: Liverpool predicted 4-3-3 line-up vs West Ham as Henderson misses out

Liverpool news: Steve Nicol has criticised Liverpool players for their reaction to the Atletico loss

“What is the worst thing you can do? You’re already behind in the tie, what would be the only thing that’s worse than being behind? “Riling them up, given them something else to get them fired up about it. It’s completely opposite of what you should do. “You take your punishment, you keep your trap shut, you wait until you’re home and then when you’re in the dressing room before the game, you get a little reminder of what they did during the first leg, that’s how you go about it. “You don’t go spouting your mouth out and crying like a big baby because of the way they went about it. It’s completely and utterly wrong.” DON'T MISS

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READ MORE Liverpool transfer chief Michael Edwards has shared secret to success Robertson said Atletico celebrated like they had won the tie on Tuesday. “The throw in before the corner should have gone to us so the officials made a mistake there, but their [goal from the] corner is just a ricochet,” Robertson told BT Sport. “It was tight, but it was onside, and we gave them the best possible start to get their fans up and then they started falling over and trying to get under our skin, but we handled it well. “They were falling over easy, but we got on with it and we are better than that. It was a decent performance, but we have a second leg to put it right.

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Liverpool news: Andy Robertson was critical of Atletico Madrid after the Champions League clash