Brendan Rodgers defends Liverpool team selection in Real Madrid defeat

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has insisted that Saturday's clash with Chelsea did not influence his team selection in tonight's 1-0 Champions League defeat to Real Madrid.

Rodgers dropped stellar figures such as Steven Gerrard, Mario Balotelli and Raheem Sterling as the Reds went down to Karim Benzema's first-half goal in the Bernabeu.

However, the Northern Irishman has defended his teamsheet against the reigning European champions, and says that he did not have one eye on the visit of the Premier League leaders.

"I've got to manage a squad which has seven games in 21 days," he told BBC Sport.

"I didn't rest players for next Saturday, it was a team who I thought could get a result, and we were unfortunate not to get a result. Against the best team in the world.

"It's easy to say that we may have done better with a different team but listen, we could have lost 5-0."

Defeat leaves Rodgers's side needing to win their two remaining games against Basel and Ludogorets Razgrad to stand any chance of joining Group B leaders Real in the last 16.