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Jurgen Klopp has defended his decision to leave Mohamed Salah for the full 90 minutes when Liverpool drew 1-1 with FC Midtjylland in their final match of the Champions League group stage.
The Egyptian was a surprise starter for the Reds in Denmark, holding his place since Sunday’s 4-0 win over Wolves when Klopp made eight changes to his starting eleven.
But he wasted no time opening the scoring, and it only took 55 seconds to overtake Liverpool and become the Reds’ top scorer in Champions League history.
Having missed Liverpool’s 3-0 win at Leicester City last month after contracting the coronavirus, Salah has started each of the Reds’ last five games.
But Klopp has dismissed any suggestion that it was a risk to start Salah by explaining his team’s selection after the final whistle.
“He can make changes, but he needs some key positions,” the German told reporters. “It could have been one of the other three up front as well.
“In the last row that was the reason why Fabinho played there for 45 minutes. In midfield usually it would have probably been Naby, but he didn’t play that often so he couldn’t fill the role and needs minutes now again.
“That was Mo’s decision and how the game developed and how it looked, Mo looked good, so we didn’t remove it.
“Even though the players don’t play that much, it’s hard to get past 90 minutes after a long enough time when you don’t play 90 minutes.
“I was in contact with Mo and he had no problem, so he stayed in the field.”
By scoring against Midtyjlland, Salah carried his season total of 12 goals and his 22 in the Champions League for the Reds to overtake club legend Steven Gerrard.
And Klopp paid tribute to the Egyptian after breaking his latest record, but was quick to point out that his game is about much more than goals.
“It’s one record after another,” he said. “I didn’t know he could break his record tonight, but I’m pretty sure he’s proud of that, he should be.”
“An exceptional player, an absolutely exceptional player. Since we were together, he helps the team the way he knows and also appreciates the team’s help.
“If it was just Mo, the incredible number of goals, it wouldn’t be enough to be successful, so thank goodness others also scored a lot of goals and made this team very successful.”
“But Mo is a very exceptional player. Nobody doubted it, but if you need numbers to prove it, he delivers too.”
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