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Publication date: Wednesday, November 4, 2020 7:10 AM
Jurgen Klopp has fiercely defended Roberto Firmino after insisting that Diogo Jota’s sensational form has not given him a headache when it comes to breaking Liverpool’s famous front three.
Much of the success of Klopp and Liverpool is due to the way Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Firmino have combined up front.
However, Firmino was eliminated by 5-0 Champions League against Atalanta in Bergamo on Tuesday. The Brazilian gave way to the fit Diogo Jota and the new signing seized his opportunity with a hat-trick.
After the match, Jota stayed to reflect on his heroics and was named the favorite of his three goals.
The former Wolves player has scored six goals in the last 10 games. He already has more goals for the club in 2020 (seven) than Firmino (five).
And while some may see that as a problem for the Brazilian international, Klopp sees it differently.
“Good performances never give me a headache,” Klopp insisted.
“By tonight the decision was clear. It made sense to use the good form Diogo is in. Also due to the way Atalanta plays and defends, Diogo’s abilities help.
“But the world is sometimes a bad place that in a moment when someone is shining we immediately talk about another player. Who feels played 500 games for us in a row. We wouldn’t be in the Champions League if Bobby Firmino wasn’t there. And now I have to explain why he’s not on the team? It will be on the team.
“It is important that we have more than 11 and tonight Diogo played a great game. That says nothing about Bobby and nothing to do with giving me headaches.
“I’m more than happy the boys played like they did tonight.”
Salah and Mane were the other scorers on a night that last season’s high-scoring quarter-finalists were impressed.
It means Liverpool have won their first three group matches for the first time and have already opened a five-point lead at the top of Group D with two home games to come.
“Everything I said (about Atalanta) before the game was 100% true,” he added. Klopp.
“I’ve been in this business long enough to see when another team is playing good football and it can cause problems for the team. That didn’t change because of tonight’s game.
“We are good too. We know we have to play well and develop our potential and we did.
“It was like this: we defended Atalanta at an incredibly high level, we played the best football ourselves and scored the goals.
“We scored five goals and we could have scored two or three more. But Alisson also had to make three world-class stops. So you see how great the threat is when you let them do what they are good at.
“All my team’s performances tonight were good and that’s why we won the match. The result is not so important, we just wanted to win ”.
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Atalanta coach reflects on defeat against Liverpool
Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini admits that his defensive problems are cause for concern.
“We struggled with the rhythm of the game. Let’s see the next games, we have time to work on ourselves, ”he said.
“We are conceding too much lately and scoring less, we did not run enough and not well enough, all the things we have to work on.”
READ MORE: Klopp refuses to take credit for tactical masterclass after Atalanta coup
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