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The Irishman was praised by his coach after the Reds’ victory over the Dutch team in Europe
Jurgen Klopp praised “top talent” Caoimhin Kelleher after the goalkeeper helped Liverpool beat Ajax 1-0 in the Champions League.
Starting with Alisson dealing with a hamstring injury, Kelleher became the second goalkeeper to keep a clean sheet in his debut for Liverpool in the Champions League.
The 22-year-old Kelleher made four saves when Curtis Jones’ 58th-minute goal proved enough to send the Premier League champions to the knockout stages of Group D.
Klopp saluted the shooting stopper and said the Irishman’s distribution was a key reason he decided to start with Kelleher over Adrian.
“Up. Up, up, up,” said the Liverpool manager at a press conference.
“It’s a situation, which I have to say, it was easy to decide on Caoimhin because he just deserves it, but it was difficult to decide against Adrian because he did really well for us: a lot of clean sheets, what season last year, the final of the Super Cup and all that kind of thing.
“He did a very good job, but we needed the Caoimhin package, and he is a great talent anyway, but a very good shot stopper and a great footballer, so I like him.
“We needed that to put pressure on Ajax, we needed his chips from him in mid-space and that sort of thing. That was really good, but of course in the end it’s about saving, keeping the ball off the court. net, and did it at least twice exceptionally. I’m pretty sure he will sleep very well or not at all, but he will enjoy both. “
– Liverpool FC (@LFC) December 1, 2020
Kelleher completed 30 of 42 passes for Liverpool, which has more injury concerns for Jordan Henderson and Andy Robertson.
But Klopp was optimistic about the pair ahead of Sunday’s home game against the Wolves.
“We now have two more days than last week until the next game,” he said.
“I don’t know, things like this show up slightly different the next day. Right now I’m pretty positive about it but I don’t know.
“But that’s a problem for the next few days and not tonight.”
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