Remembering Real Madrid's Gareth Bale-inspired Champions League win over Liverpool

When Jurgen Klopp was appointed Liverpool manager in October 2015, the Reds were an absolute shambles.

Despite a spirited effort by Brendan Rodgers to guide Liverpool to their maiden Premier League triumph, the wheels soon fell off for the Northern Irishman after their near-miss in 2014 and he left the club with an unbalanced squad showing no signs of progress.

Naturally, Klopp experienced some teething problems when he first arrived on Merseyside, though given a couple of transfer windows he'd soon managed to mould his side into a team that was competing back at the top end of the Premier League again.

But - and it's a big but - for all the former Borussia Dortmund man's hard work since arriving at Liverpool, the Reds really didn't have much to show for it.

Sure, they were back in the Champions League and so the spreadsheet print-offs thrown around the boardroom looked a little healthier, but arguably England's grandest club still had just a League Cup triumph to their name since 2006.

However, their astonishing run to the 2018 Champions League final meant they were within just 90 minutes of securing the biggest prize of the lot - the only problem was Real Madrid.

Having become the first team ever to retain the Champions League trophy since it's inception in 1992 (having previously been the European Cup) Zinedine Zidane's European machine were on the hunt for their third consecutive title.

Every single member of Los Blancos' squad for the final in Kyiv had appeared in a Champions League final previously, while Liverpool couldn't boast a single player who'd graced European club football's showpiece event.

The clash was hardly billed as a David vs Goliath encounter - after all this is Liverpool we're talking about - though Zidane's side undoubtedly went into the game as favourites.

The travelling army of Reds fans' worst fears became reality with just half an hour on the clock as hot shot forward Mohamed Salah's incredible season was cruelly cut short thanks to the pure sh*thousery (or professionalism depending which team you support) of Sergio Ramos.

Despite the loss of their talisman to a shoulder injury, Liverpool regrouped and made their way through to half-time with the scores finely poised at 0-0. Little did they know Loris Karius was about to write his name into Real Madrid folklore.

The Liverpool shot-stopper appeared to take an elbow to the head from Ramos (obviously) shortly after the interval, and despite being given the all-clear by the medical staff, it was clear his performance had been impacted by the collision.

The German goalkeeper's first error came as he seemingly ignored the presence of Karim Benzema as he tried to roll the ball out to his Liverpool teammate, with the Frenchman stepping in to divert the ball into the empty net.

Not to worry, even without Salah on the pitch Liverpool's frontline looked a threat and Klopp's side drew level just four minutes later thanks to the quick thinking of Sadio Mane, who nipped in front of Keylor Navas to tap Dejan Lovren's goal-bound effort home.

Little did the raucous Liverpool fans know they were soon to be silenced by the best Champions League final goal ever.

With little more than an hour played, Marcelo dug out a right-footed cross which was little more than a toe-punt into the Liverpool box, though it really didn't need to be a decent ball given the quality of the man on the end of it.

Somehow, roughly 15 yards out from goal, Gareth Bale managed to adjust his body before meeting the ball about six feet off the floor with a jaw-dropping overhead kick which flew past Karius and into the top corner.

The Liverpool goalkeeper had barely even moved by the time the ball had hit the back of the net such was the ingenuity and the brilliance of the strike, leaving the Liverpool backline stood like statues just staring at each other as if to say 'well what can we do about that?'.

Klopp's men would once again need to regroup if they were to stand any chance of getting their hands on the Champions League trophy, though nothing was going to be able to stand in the way of the ruthless Real machine.

Karius' night from hell would be topped with just seven minutes of normal time to play, as Bale once again took aim at the Liverpool goal and the German goalkeeper steadied himself for a seemingly simple catch - it wasn't.

The Reds shot-stopper fumbled the ball into the back of the net, bringing down the curtain on Liverpool's glorious run to the final of Europe's premier club competition and crowning Real Madrid kings of the continent once again.

The defeat arguably aided Klopp's men's victorious Champions League run the following season and so all was not lost, though the night will forever be remembered for that Bale goal and Karius' nightmare.