Liverpool football team manager Brendan Rodgers has insisted that his team selection was justified in light of the defeat last weekend's Premier League defeat against Newcastle United as his much-changed squad lost 1-0 to Real Madrid in their Champions League clash on Tuesday.
A much-changed Liverpool fought hard but came up short against Real Madrid as striker Karim Benzema scored the only goal in their Champions League match. The Frenchman turned in Marcelo's low cross after Simon Mignolet had done well to keep out efforts from Cristiano Ronaldo and James Rodriguez.
Liverpool threatened briefly after the break as Adam Lallana fired just wide. But Real remained in control and Steven Gerrard and Raheem Sterling's arrival off the bench could not turn the tide, The BBC reported.
In possibly the biggest gamble of his managerial career, Rodgers made seven changes to the starting XI that lost to Newcastle at the weekend, with Mario Balotelli and Jordan Henderson joining Gerrard and Sterling on the bench.
Instead, Kolo Toure, who has seen less than a minute of Premier League action this season, started in defence, behind a midfield trio of Emre Can, Lucas and Joe Allen, with the willing Fabio Borini in attack.
Liverpool's line-up seemed to suggest damage limitation, rather than a revenge mission, at the Bernabeu. If minimizing their losses was Rodgers's aim, he succeeded, but some would reportedly struggle to understand his approach to such a big game. The result, and team selection, would reportedly be thrown into even starker light should Liverpool fail to get a result at home to Chelsea on Saturday, when some of their rested first-choice players are likely to return.
Rodgers said that most people read into names on a team sheet, but added that he had to manage a squad that has seven games in 21 days and on the back of the result at Newcastle, he picked a team that he felt could get a result for them.
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