Martin: We must not dwell on heartbreak
Martin Skrtel insists Liverpool cannot afford to dwell on their penalty shootout defeat to Besiktas in Istanbul as they prepare to face Manchester City at Anfield on Sunday.
The Reds were eliminated from the Europa League after Tolgay Ali Arslan's 72nd-minute strike levelled the aggregate scores and extra-time was not sufficient to separate the sides.
In the shootout at the Ataturk Stadium, Liverpool converted their first four penalties with unerring accuracy; however, Slaven Bilic's charges were equally ruthless from 12 yards.
And when the Turkish outfit made it a clean sweep of successful strikes, Dejan Lovren stepped up to take the Reds' fifth spot-kick, only to fire his effort over Cenk Gonen's crossbar.
Skrtel, who captained the side in the absence of Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson, was one of the first to console his teammate as Besiktas celebrated securing a passage to the tournament's last 16.
For the Slovakian, post-match, the disappointment was raw; however, he stressed the importance of Liverpool turning their focus to City and another testing Barclays Premier League clash.
"We're disappointed now, but I think we have to forget about this quickly because in two days' time we have a big game and we have to be focused on that one," Skrtel told Liverpoolfc.com.
"We came here and we wanted to get through to the next round. We'd been defending well and we tried to go for the counter-attack and score some goals, but unfortunately we couldn't. We conceded one goal.
"Everything is so fresh now, but I think from tomorrow we have to start thinking about the next game and focusing on our next match and keep going again."
Rickie Lambert, Adam Lallana, Emre Can and Joe Allen all netted from the spot at the Ataturk as the Reds kept up to speed with Besiktas in the shootout.
Arslan, who altered the game in normal time as a second-half substitute, converted from the spot to make it 5-4, meaning the pressure was firmly on Lovren and Liverpool to level the scores.
"Penalties are always either or, it's a big lottery," said Skrtel. "That's football. It could happen to anyone from the team and he was the one who didn't score, but we cannot blame him for that. That can happen and now we need to look ahead."