THREE WINS FROM FLAG
Klopp’s jubilation
LIVERPOOL boss Jurgen Klopp hailed his players’ reaction but regretted his own on the touchline after they came from behind to beat Bournemouth to lie three wins from a first title in in 30 years.
Goals from Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane turned things around after Callum Wilson’s controversial opener for the visitors as the leaders set a new record of 22 successive top-flight home wins.
Wilson’s goal came after he had appeared to push Joe Gomez off the ball in the build-up and such was Klopp’s frustration a foul was not given he celebrated wildly at assistant referee Dan Cook when Salah’s equaliser went in — actions he regretted afterwards.
‘I was in good spirits, let me say it like this,’ said Klopp. ‘Yes, that happened. Would I do it now? No, but in the moment I just don’t understand how it could be a goal.
‘This shows the problem of VAR still exists. It is a human being. I am not sure, does anyone in the room think it was not a foul?’
‘Nobody felt comfortable after that, so I celebrated a bit in that direction (of the assistant referee) but I was not happy about it and didn’t say anything.
‘But I was happy about the result, the three points and the performance because I knew it would be tricky for different reasons.
‘I think the decisions of the ref around the goals made it even more tricky for us, obviously.
“We wanted to fight back before the game and after that we had to fight back. How we played after being 1-0 down was exceptional, to be honest.
‘I don’t want to make it too big but in a moment when you have to fight back for the momentum and then you get a decision like that and a goal like this, there are other teams in the history of football which would then slip. The boys’ reaction today, I loved — I really loved.’
Victory, which took Liverpool 25 points clear of second-placed Manchester City, was the ideal boost ahead of Wednesday’s crucial Champions League last-16 second leg at home to Atletico Madrid.
Liverpool have to overcome a 1-0 deficit in that match, after three defeats in four matches.
There was more good news with captain Jordan Henderson poised to return to training after a hamstring injury and Andy Robertson set to come back into the side after being rested.
‘It should be possible. Robbo shouldn’t be a problem. Hendo was out I don’t know exactly how long but I think he will train tomorrow. That looks good,’ added Klopp.
A ninth defeat in 10 away games and a run of just three victories in 18 league matches leaves Bournemouth mired in 18th and in real danger of relegation.
‘I thought we performed really well. I can’t be critical of too much of what we did,’ said manager Eddie Howe. ‘We knew we would have limited possession. It was a case of how well we defended.’