Jurgen Klopp was crestfallen at the manner of Liverpool’s Champions League defeat to Real Madrid, with Mohamed Salah facing World Cup heartbreak and Loris Karius left battling “dark thoughts”.

The Reds endured a nightmare night as they went down 3-1 in Kiev, with player of the year Salah suffering a first-half shoulder injury which threatens his participation for Egypt this summer – though the national team later expressed optimism.

If possible, Karius suffered an even worse night as he shipped two of the most lamentable goals in the history of European finals.

The first saw him hurl the ball into Karim Benzema’s outstretched leg for the softest of opening goals before throwing in a long-ranger from Gareth Bale, who had already produced a magical bicycle kick.

On Salah, Klopp told BT Sport: “It is unbelievable. He would have played on if anything was possible. I didn’t see him, maybe he’s in the hospital at the moment for an X-ray.

“It doesn’t look good.”

A subsequent tweet from the Egypt national team account suggested Salah had suffered ligament damage but avoided either a dislocation or a broken collar bone.

It read: “Update: Dr. Mohamed Abou El-Ela, the doctor of the team, said that the Liverpool medical team had informed him after the X-ray on the shoulder of Salah that the result was that the player was injured in the ligaments of the shoulder joint, and added that according to this diagnosis he is optimistic Salah will be part of the national team in the World Cup.”

Real Madrid v Liverpool – UEFA Champions League – Final – NSK Olimpiyskiy Stadium
Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah leaves the pitch injured (Peter Byrne/PA)

As for Karius, who was inconsolable at the final whistle, Klopp was almost speechless.

“What can I say? Loris knows it, everyone knows it. That’s it.”

“It’s a shame it was in a game like this, after a season like this. I really feel for him, a fantastic boy.

Real Madrid v Liverpool – UEFA Champions League – Final – NSK Olimpiyskiy Stadium
Liverpool goalkeeper Loris Karius shows his dejection after the final whistle (Peter Byrne/PA)

“The second one is because of the first one. It’s really difficult to get rid of bad thoughts you have in your mind.

“It was not the best script for us tonight.”

Klopp has earned rave reviews for the work he has done at Anfield this season, promoting a thrilling brand of attacking football but he has yet to shake off his poor run in finals.

He has now lost his last six showpieces, three with Liverpool and three with Borussia Dortmund.

“The plan is only to play for winning, nothing else,” he said.

“There’s not a lot to say about the rest to be honest. We scored one, they scored three…that’s it.”

Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson refused to blame Karius for the defeat, insisting the club would rise and fall as one.

Real Madrid v Liverpool – UEFA Champions League – Final – NSK Olimpiyskiy Stadium
Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson (left) comforts goalkeeper Loris Karius (Mike Egerton/PA)

“It’s not about him and mistakes he might have made,” he told BT Sport.

“It’s about us as a team, we got here together as a team and we lose as a team.

“We’re all together, it’s not just about one person. We were just not good enough to get over the line.”

The England midfielder also promised to bounce back as quickly as possible for club and country.

“It’s going to hurt for a while but football moves forward, we’ve got the World Cup coming and we’ve got to quickly move on because the season starts quickly after that.

“We’re proud to get here and we got beaten by a fantastic team. We’ve got a fantastic squad and a fantastic manager and we’ve got to use that to keep going forward.”