Juergen Klopp on Sunday warned title rivals Manchester City that Liverpool will not give up their title bid quietly after a 4-2 victory over Burnley cut Pep Guardiola’s lead at the top of the English Premier League to a single point.
Liverpool responded impressively to City’s win against Watford on Saturday, rallying strongly after falling behind to a controversial opening goal from Burnley, with two goals each from Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane.
The German manager, whose side visit Bayern Munich in their UEFA Champions League round-of-16 second leg tomorrow, said that the performance demonstrated his team’s ability to handle the pressure.
Photo: Reuters
“The message from today is that nobody gets rid of us,” Klopp said. “We had the perfect mixture of fighting the opponent and playing football. All we have to do is make sure that we stay in this really interesting competition on top of the table. We have no problem with confidence, we’re in a good moment.”
The victory was also a triumph for Adam Lallana, the England midfielder whose inclusion in the starting lineup was not universally popular among Liverpool supporters, but who turned in a man-of-the-match display.
Lallana changed the momentum of the game just before the half-hour mark, charging down a poor clearance from Phil Bardsley and seeing Mohamed Salah tackled by Charlie Taylor before the ball broke kindly to Mane, who curled in the ball in.
“It is not only Adam, but it was clear, if he can play like he trained, then he will help us a lot and that is exactly how it happened,” Klopp said. “He is always good on the ball, but he is an aggressive boy. The counterpress is a game-changer. It didn’t look really promising until he jumped in, so well done, really pleased for him.”
It was a strong response from Liverpool after they fell behind against Sean Dyche’s struggling team in the sixth minute.
Joel Matip needlessly conceded a corner which Ashley Westwood curled directly into the Liverpool goal, with goalkeeper Alisson protesting furiously that he had been impeded, earning a booking for sprinting to remonstrate with referee Andre Marriner.
“The early goal we conceded, usually it would have been disallowed, if the ref had a view,” Klopp said.
“I saw the first minute it is a foul, you cannot treat the goalie like this,” he said. “The good thing is it is early, we had time to turn it around.”
Also on Sunday, it was:
‧ Chelsea 1, Wolves 1
‧ Arsenal 2, Manchester United 0
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