LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) – Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp hailed Mohamed Salah after the Egyptian striker’s winner against Brentford on Saturday set a number of milestones and kept the Reds in the hunt for Champions League football next season.
Salah struck from close range in the 13th minute to score for the ninth home game in a row, making it to 30 goals this season and a century of goals at Liverpool’s iconic stadium since he joined from Italian Serie A side AS Roma in 2017.
“I think as an offensive player, you need to have this desire to score goals, but a lot of people forget how many goals he sets up, so he’s just always, very, very often involved in the goals,” Klopp told Sky Sports after Liverpool’s 1-0 Premier League win.
“A lot of other players don’t appreciate people enough when they are still playing, and for us, it’s clear he’s an all-time great,” he added.
Klopp’s side are fifth in the table and still in with an outside chance of making it to the Champions League next season, and they need to keep winning just in case anyone above them slips up.
“It’s probably a little bit more exciting than a few teams wanted for us, it’s good that we could get into that region of the table again, but we have to make sure that we keep the teams behind us … nothing is decided,” he said as the season approaches its climax.
“We have three games to go and then, finally, a bit of a longer break, which is very helpful. You could see that today – Brentford had a full week in between their games, we played three days ago,” Klopp said.
“It’s a massive difference, especially in the latter stages of the game, (but) the boys got through it, and I’m really happy about it.”
(Reporting by Philip O’Connor; Editing by Toby Davis)
