Klopp hails ‘special’ Salah after hat-trick

Describing Mohamed Salah as a “special player”, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp heaped praise on the footlabller after the team won the match 4-3 against Leeds. The Liverpool star scored a hat-trick in the opening match.

Marcelo Bielsa’s men did show a lot of spirit, but it was Salah who came up with a match-winning performance. Liverpool began their title defence with a win, with Salah netting thrice, including scoring two penalties. Virgil Van Dijk also scored for Liverpool.

Klopp on Salah

“First and foremost congratulations to him because he’s a very special player very, very special player,” said the Reds boss.

“The numbers tell the story a little bit, all the rest you probably don’t know. But today’s a very good example as he put three more goals on his score list, but the performance all-round was absolutely exceptional in a game like this.

“So he deserved the goals, 100 per cent, yes two were penalties, one was a sensational finish, but he deserved these goals because he was constantly present, causing the opponent massive problems.

“He was top in one-on-one situations, played football. With all the good performances he’s had for us, obviously this was for sure one of the better ones and so he should be proud of that because it’s very special to have these kinds of numbers. Long may it continue.”

Klopp on Liverpool defensive form

“I didn’t really see us struggling defensively, it’s just the way they play you cannot defend it 100 per cent all the time,” Klopp said.

“The first goal both full-backs were deeper than the centre-halves, that should never have happened. The second goal I think was a misunderstanding between Virgil and Alisson, it was one of the things that can happen. It should not, but it can happen. I don’t think we will see these situations very often.”

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