Milner’s return drives dream of a ‘Fab Four’

JURGEN KLOPP said the win at Newcastle was one of the finest of the season and insisted strength in depth is keeping them in the hunt for the Quadruple — a new Liverpool ‘Fab Four’.

Liverpool’s manager took a risk at St James’s Park by resting key men such as Mohamed Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho and Thiago Alcantara ahead of the second leg of their Champions League semi-final against Villarreal on Tuesday.

He brought in James Milner, who had not started in the top-flight since January 2, and Joe Gomez, who had only played 90 minutes twice in the Premier League this season. But both had significant roles in an authoritative 1-0 victory.

With the Carabao Cup already won, there is a determination in the squad to get more prizes in the next 28 days. Klopp is adamant that the opportunity to make history is only still possible because of individuals such as Milner and Gomez.

‘That is the only reason why we are where we are,’ Klopp said. ‘The boys buy completely into the situation. The boys that didn’t come on, you should have seen their faces on the final whistle. The group is exceptional — exceptionally talented and with really good character.

‘It is hard for the players (who missed out) not to play. But it was a top-class performance.’

Milner’s fingerprints were all over the contest, as he snapped into tackles and helped launch the move that led to Naby Keita’s decisive

VILLARREAL crashed to a 2-1 defeat at lowly Alaves yesterday as Unai Emery paid the price for making sweeping changes ahead of their Champions League clash with Liverpool. Emery made eight changes in light of Tuesday’s semifinal second leg, where the Spaniards need to overturn a 2-0 deficit. goal. Milner is out of contract in the summer and no decisions have been made. Klopp’s admiration for the 36-year-old is obvious.

‘Milly is incredibly important for us. We talk about the dressing room, he is very helpful there especially with a manager who isn’t a native speaker, but on the pitch as well he played a super game.’

Newcastle manager Eddie Howe had no complaints about the outcome of a game that brought an end to a sequence of six consecutive home wins.

‘It was close, but not close enough,’ Howe said. ‘Our performance was workmanlike, we lacked the quality to win. Our set-play execution was not good enough. There is a lot of work to do.’