The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
World win boosts Reds’ quest for league title
Defender Joe Gomez hopes success at the Club World Cup will help boost Liverpool’s quest for a first domestic title in 30 years.
The 1-0 extra-time victory over Flamengo in Doha saw the Reds win the one trophy available to them which they had not previously won.
They return home actually in a stronger position than they left, with Manchester City’s victory over Leicester meaning their lead at the top of the Premier League is still 10 points – but now with a match in hand.
And with a third trophy in six months in the bag, Gomez says they are now looking to consolidate their bid for a first league title since 1990.
“Winning this only adds to our positivity,” he said. “We come away from here as champions of the world. Why can’t we use that as a positive?
“But we know we can’t dwell on anything. We’re not even halfway through the season yet, so it’s a case of heads down and carry on the focus.”
For all the criticism the club received for travelling to Qatar with a full-strength squad, leaving behind a youth team to get knocked out of the Carabao Cup quarterfinals, the players were in no doubt it was the right decision.
Many have spoken of the drive which exists to win more trophies, so adding another piece of silverware more than justifies the trip.
“It’s special. We knew coming into it that we hadn’t won it as a club before and that was something we wanted to achieve,” Gomez added.
“Credit to all the players, staff and the supporters. I’m buzzing that we were able to take this opportunity. You don’t get here without winning one of the biggest trophies in the world.
“The consequence of that is you come here and play top teams. We played two good teams this week and you can’t underestimate that.
“The atmosphere in the dressing room just shows you how positive this competition can be. It’s another trophy and that’s what we’re here for.”
The victory was not without controversy as Liverpool thought they had won an added-time penalty for a foul on Sadio Mane only for it to be ruled out by VAR when Qatari referee Abdulrahman Al-Jassim viewed his pitchside monitor.
But Jurgen Klopp’s side bounced back and Roberto Firmino scored the crucial goal in the first half of extra-time.
“I think that shows the mentality of the team,” said Gomez. “When we weren’t awarded a penalty or a free-kick from that incident our heads could have dropped.
“We could have felt sorry for ourselves and momentum could have gone against us. But credit to the boys for staying focused and keeping the standards high.”
Manchester United are the only other Premier League team to win the competition but Liverpool completed a unique English treble by adding the trophy to the Champions League and European Super Cup.
Defender Andy Robertson, however, questions whether that will be given the same credit as other similar achievements.
“We know it’s a big deal, we’ll have a gold badge on our strip and we added another trophy to the cabinet so that’s incredibly huge,” added the former Dundee United player,
“I suppose it is not as big in England as the Carabao Cup as not many people get there and only Man United have won it before and no one talks about trophies English clubs can’t win.
“We go back to England with a trophy and that can’t do any harm for our confidence. It might have been different had we got beat and maybe some people would have said we wasted our time but for us even if we had lost it was all worthwhile because we had a chance to win a trophy the club hadn’t won before.”