Gareth Bale was the hero and Loris Karius the unfortunate zero after a pulsating Champions League final in Kyiv.

Real Madrid were 3-1 winners as they won an historic third straight title, their fourth in five years.

On RTÉ2 in the immediate aftermath the panel attempted to make sense of a final that saw Liverpool draw level at 1-1 despite the loss of their talisman Mo Salah to injury in the first half.

Even with the loss of their 'Egyptian King' Liam Brady thought they could have won it were it not for the unfortunate intervention of Karius.

"You just can't legislate for your goalkeeper doing things like that," said Brady. "They were better in possession but they didn't dominate the game.

"Until Liverpool had to go chasing it and leave three-on-three or four against four at the back but it took a wonder goal and two absolute mistakes that you wouldn't see a kid make in a schoolboy match."

Didi Hamann, a Champions League winner with Liverpool in 2005, placed less of the blame on the goalkeeper - stating that Liverpool's heads dropped as soon as they lost Salah.

"This team overachieved. May sound a bit harsh to say they were found out but you saw the way Madrid passed the ball for 70 minutes and tired Liverpool out.

"They were in a different league. Yes, Salah's departure hurt them, but for me it is too easy to say the Salah went off and that was that. I saw the manager come out after half-time, his head was down and his shoulders were down. The belief seemed to be gone out of the manager, the team, the whole stadium."

Eamon Dunphy could not look beyond the goalkeeping errors.

"They threw the game away. Maybe in Klopp's head there is something wrong. He can't close the deal, he can't get it over the line. You have to question anyone who could put that keeper Karius in that position tonight.

"Mignolet is actually better. Certainly Jordan Pickford, for 30 million last year, who was bought by their neighbours Everton should have been first in the door - because Klopp could have offered him Champions League football.