• Champions League

Rodgers proud of keeping score down in Madrid

Adam Lallana put in an impressive shift at the heart of the Liverpool midfield in Steven Gerrard's absence © Getty Images

Enlarge

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers suggested his controversial team selection had been justified after his side left the Bernabeu with their pride intact following a 1-0 defeat against Real Madrid.

Club captain Steven Gerrard, Raheem Sterling and Philippe Coutinho were among the players left on the bench by Rodgers as he had an eye on Saturday's Premier League game against Chelsea, with the Liverpool manager satisfied with his team's efforts.

"You've seen how good [the Liverpool players] were tonight," he told ITV Sport. "We're obviously disappointed with the result because the bottom line is we lost, but to come to a stadium like this where they're winning [by] threes and fours against teams like Barcelona and to keep the game close right to the very end, showed the quality of our performance.

"We knew we would have to defend well but we also had the courage to play. We're very proud of the team."

Victories against Ludogorets and Basel in their final two group games will secure Liverpool a place in the last-16 of the Champions League and Rodgers suggested that prospect was always on his mind as he made his team selection for he Real Madrid game.

"We knew we'd have to beat Ludogorets away and then we were hoping it would come down to the last game against Basel at home," he added. "That hopefully will be the case. At least it's in our hands and that's something we'll aim to do."

Rodgers went so far as to suggest that had he started his big names the result could have been much worse.

"I pick the team that I think will get a result. The players are all in tune with what we are trying to do. This is a big week for us. The Newcastle game we lost and we were disappointed with the result and the performance.

"We might have lost 5-0 if we started with those players. We are not a team on the back of five or six wins and my selection is made easy because of performance. Anything but that and there are so many positives from tonight.

"We saw the level of their game when they came to Anfield and we knew this would be a huge task for us. We take confidence from the performance level and we take that into Saturday.

"We will stay overnight here, prepare well, train here tomorrow and get ready for the game on Saturday. That is going to be a big game for us."

Adam Lallana made an impressive impact in the heart of the midfield battle, with the England midfielder hoping his display allows him to hang onto his place in the Liverpool team for the game against Chelsea this weekend.

"We have a big squad and we were all out there trying to prove we deserved to stay in the team for the weekend," Lallana said. "We have another big game with Chelsea at home. Hopefully we have done that, but the main thing was the result and we are disappointed to go away with nothing.

"The manager has brought players in and he is confident they are good enough to perform at the level required in the competitions we are in. We know we just have to dig in and we will be doing that on Saturday."

Lallana's satisfaction in his own performance was diluted by the reality that Liverpool lost once again against Real Madrid and are left with just three points from their opening four Champions League games.

"We said at half-time if the game stayed at 1-0, we would have every chance of getting back in to it," he added. "We had a couple of half-chances and we were in it until the last minute.

"We knew this would be a difficult place to come, but we are still in this competition. We know we have to win our last two games, but we are confident that we are capable of achieving it.

"We have a tough game away at Ludogorets and then we have Basel at Anfield. Two tough games, but they are the games you want to be involved in."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd