The popular Jurgen Klopp has suggested that star forward Mohamed Salah wants to completely end his football career at Liverpool following the Reds’ 5-0 thrashing of rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford.
Liverpool rised to a big win in Manchester with the talented Salah hitting a hat-trick and grabbing an assist for Naby Keita, with Diogo Jota also getting on the scoresheet.
The Liverpool’s head coach Klopp was full of praise for Salah, who outrightly became the first away player to score a hat-trick at Old Trafford since Ronaldo did so for Real Madrid in the Champions League which took place on April 2003, while he is only the second player to do that while playing for Liverpool after Fred Howe in November 1936.
“About the fifth goal, Mo was there to get the goals and he deals with the fuss everyone around him makes,” Klopp said to Sky Sports. “He enjoys his football and long, long, may it continue. I know this already (he wants to completely end his career here), I know this situation to well.”
Klopp who was also stunned by the manner of his side’s win and hailed their clinical performance after the Reds recorded their largest biggest margin of victory against United ever since October 1895, winning with 7-1 at Anfield. It was also Liverpool’s greatest biggest margin of victory in the fixture away from home.
The German also made it known that the Reds intentionally eased off at 5-0 to lower the risk of further injuries after James Milner was forced off early and Keita was carried off on a stretcher after being part of a two-footed tackle from Paul Pogba that saw the Frenchman sent off.
“What can I say? Did I expect that? No, not at all,” Klopp continued. “What we did in the last third was insane. Pressing high, winning balls, scoring sweet wonderful goals. I told them at half-time to play better.
“We started extremely well and stopped playing football. We were in control of the game after the fifth, it was never about scoring more, just trying to get out without more injuries.
“The result is stupid, I asked if there was one like this in history and if there isn’t then it will take a while. The players put a nice piece in the record. It is special but we don’t celebrate like mad, we have great respect for the opponents. We were lucky in some moments, United are not in their very best moment.
“Three good points against a real opponent but you have to understand these games right. We got lost against Aston Villa and you have to learn from it. We smashed Crystal Palace once and the results are not very good. I analyse the games, we can play better and we have to concentrate more.
“I couldn’t be happier, it is very exceptional. Absolutely outstanding!. I have a few defeats in my mind which was not necessary but we won today so we drink beer and celebrate on the way home.
“James Milner has a hamstring, he showed me that something was not right. Naby Keita we need to see, a full-throttle [tackle] on the shin.”
Salah spoke of the Reds’ title ambitions after becoming the most top-scoring African player in Premier League history, his 107 goals taking him clear of Didier Drogba’s 104, while also becoming the first-ever Liverpool player to score in three consecutive away games against United in all of his competitions.
“I think it is very great to win 5-0 here, we knew before the game it would be tough if we did not play our game,” Salah said to Sky Sports. “We knew they will come and try to give everything so we had to give our 100 per cent.
“As long as the team keeps winning I am happy and promise to give my best to the team to win. We are aware of what it takes to win the Premier League, we did it two years ago. A big win here but we have still only three points.
“We try our best to win each game and try to win the title. We seriously need to play to win everything. From our heads from pre-season, we need to win the Premier League and hopefully, we will go for that.”
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