Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp expects forward Mohamed Salah to break more records after scoring 50th goal for the club in their win over Red Star Belgrade.
LIVERPOOL, England — Jurgen Klopp has revealed that Liverpool’s players decided on naming Virgil van Dijk as the club’s third-choice captain.
Van Dijk captained Liverpool for the first time in Wednesday’s 4-0 win over Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League, with usual skipper Jordan Henderson injured and vice-captain James Milner an unused substitute.
Klopp moved away from his usual approach of handing the armband to the longest-serving player in the starting XI when Henderson and Milner were both absent and decided to let the team make the call.
“It was not my decision,” Klopp told a news conference on Friday. “I decided Hendo and Milly would stay [captain and vice-captain].
“That was logical and it would have been like that if we had voted, and then I said for the next two, the players can vote.
“And now we have the two Dutch guys. The team decided number three and four would be Virgil and Gini Wijnaldum.”
Henderson, along with Naby Keita, will miss Saturday’s game against Cardiff City because of a hamstring issue.
“Both [are] in a good way, but will not be ready for that,” Klopp said. “Apart from Ox [Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain] and Rhian [Brewster], the rest should be available.”
Henderson’s absence could mean Fabinho keeps his place in the starting lineup for the second game running.
Fabinho, the €50 million summer signing from Monaco, drew plaudits for his performance in the midweek win over Red Star, which was just his second start for the club.
“I don’t know what you can expect. But it was good,” Klopp said. “It looked good, to be honest. It was a game where I thought it made sense to do it like this. It was the right thing to do to have these players in these positions.
“It was for sure not the last time that we used [that 4-2-3-1 system]. I heard about people were quite excited about the performance of Fabinho especially. I can imagine that.
“It was really good, but he is still a young fella and he still can improve. I don’t want to make the performance smaller than it was, it was really good and I was happy for him.
“I said before the game it was no problem that [he hasn’t been playing], but I know for a player it’s different. I know how life is, you want to be involved immediately. But I thought it made sense to wait for the right moment. We hit it and now we can continue on that path.”
Meanwhile, Klopp laughed off the suggestion from Cardiff boss Neil Warnock that it is “virtually impossible” for the Premier League newcomers to win at Anfield on Saturday.
Cardiff, who sit 17th in the league table, won for the first time this season last weekend when they beat Fulham 4-2.
“It would be so cool if that was the truth, but it’s not and they will try everything,” Klopp said. “He is one of the most experienced managers in the world of football, and so successful in the past it’s unbelievable.
“We are aware of the quality of Cardiff. It’s important, a challenge like it always is, to immediately adapt, but Cardiff and Neil Warnock are famous for the way they play and the boys, especially the English boys, knew it already.”
Klopp added: “This game is a challenge. Do we have to talk about who should win the game? It should be Liverpool, but football is football.
“There are a lot of moments where they could make the difference — in the challenges, with formation, set-pieces.
“That makes this game so interesting. There are different tools you can use to make life really uncomfortable for an opponent and they are really good at that.”
Be the first to comment