Jurgen Klopp hails ‘sensational’ Liverpool man Mo Salah can thank; honest admission on red card

Jurgen Klopp praised Alisson’s ‘sensational awareness’ which helped to set up Mo Salah for the Liverpool winner against Manchester City, while the manager also admitted his red card was ‘probably deserved’.

Liverpool pulled off a surprise result as they beat Man City 1-0 at Anfield. Such a win wouldn’t normally be labelled as a surprise, but this shows just how bad Liverpool’s injury crisis has been and how impressive City have performed this season.

Erling Haaland had a few good chances for City in the first half but couldn’t beat Alisson.

Salah gave City a warning early in the second half. He was sent through on goal by a great Roberto Firmino pass and the Egyptian raced away from Nathan Ake before pulling the trigger. However, City goalkeeper Ederson did brilliantly to get a fingertip to it and push the ball wide for a corner.

Phil Foden thought he had scored a few minutes later, only for his goal to be ruled out for a foul on Fabinho in the build up.

In the 76th minute, Alisson caught a City free-kick and intelligently sent a long ball up to Salah who was one-on-one with Joao Cancelo. Salah turned his marker and once again went through on goal. This time, Salah came out on top as he picked out the bottom corner.

Klopp was sent off in the final few minutes of normal time for his protests when Salah appeared to be fouled by Bernardo Silva.

Liverpool could have had one or two more goals if Darwin Nunez had passed to one of his team-mates when racing towards the penalty area. Despite these missed chances, Liverpool saw out the 1-0 win.

Jurgen Klopp pleased with ‘perfect result’

In a post-match interview with Sky Sports (via BBC Sport), Klopp reacted to the victory by saying: “Result, perfect. Performance, really, really good, in an incredibly intense game.

“We defended at an incredibly high level for 99 minutes almost. They had their moments but especially in the box we did extremely well.

“This was for us obviously big today. We showed up today and that is all we wanted to do.

“City didn’t have these counter attack situations, we had them three times. The situation around the goal is just sensational awareness from Alisson and outstanding from Mo. He might miss one but he will not miss two in a similar situation.

“Goals decide the game but there were so many good football moments against what I would say is the best football team in the world.”

When asked about Diogo Jota, who had to be taken off in stoppage time due to injury, Klopp replied: “We miss the next one with Diogo. He felt real pain in that moment but I have no idea how bad it is. If Diogo stays down it is not good.”

Manager discusses red card

Klopp then spoke honestly about his sending off. “In the end, probably deserved, but you cannot have this situation,” Klopp said. “It is the clearest foul I ever saw in front of the linesman and he is not bothered. It is clear. They just watch the game but we [the managers] are involved.”

On the meaning of the win, Klopp added: “Three points. We have to recover. Wednesday West ham is coming here and that is the next tough one.

“It was really good, it was the best that could happen here today.”

During a separate post-match interview with Sky Sports, defender Virgil van Dijk said: “It takes a lot to get the three points.

“It was always going to be very intense. First half I think we played quite well and we didn’t give much away.

“Second half we had to defend a bit more but we won and that is the most important thing.

‘We showed a lot of fight’, says Van Dijk

“For both sides it is a lot of running, a lot of communication and who wanted it more. We showed a lot of fight.

“If you drop a slight percentage they will punish you. It was important to get the clean sheet.”

On the Anfield atmosphere, Van Dijk continued: “It is always like that. When certain things happen in the game it can add fuel to the fire in a positive way for us.

“They [the crowd] played a big part and that is what we need for the rest of the season, especially after a difficult start.”

When analysing the match for Sky Sports, Jamie Carragher gave a brilliant insight into why Liverpool won, while Roy Keane called it a ‘turning point’ for the Reds.