Liverpool players wanted to win for Allison – Klopp

Joe Williams

Jurgen Klopp claims that Liverpool’s players were determined to win for Alisson after the goalkeeper made a mistake in the lead up to Manchester United’s goal.

A goal from Sadio Mane and an equaliser from Jesse Lingard meant the sides went into the break all square, before Xherdan Shaqiri climbed off the bench with 20 minutes left to bag a brace and give Liverpool a 3-1 win.

And Klopp was thrilled with how his side played against United, he said: “Over the moon about the performance. The way the boys played tonight was outstanding. We saw the line up of United and their quality – how organised they were and they fight from the back.

“The plan was to be brave and chip the ball behind the lines. The first goal was how, if you could have drawn, it would have been the goal. It’s so deserved. Top, top first class team.

“The timing of Shaqiri’s introduction was not too bad. We need somebody to score the goals. But how the boys fought. The mix up of big fight and really playing football against an unbelievably strong team. United didn’t want to play defensively but we didn’t let them out.”

On the flat mood after the equaliser, Klopp added: “We conceded that goal, but the boys wanted to do it for Allison. On the pitch it was difficult. Then we stuck together and keep on going. At half time we could adjust a few things and saw spaces. Then they changed the system from five to four at the back and the space wasn’t there. We played and played and Shaq came on and scored the goals.”

On what it meant for their title hopes, Klopp continued: “Today we played United. For one second we didn’t think about it. We wanted to win the game which was difficult enough. We know we are a good football team. We had to prove it and keep on proving it.”