How one Liverpool player nearly reduced Klopp to tears this week

Jurgen Klopp has admitted Mohamed Salah almost made him cry when he surrendered a penalty to Roberto Firmino.

The Egyptian is the Reds’ usual spot-kick taker and had already netted from 12 yards on the stroke of half-time to put Liverpool 4-1 up.

Why did Salah have Klopp on the edge of tears? Five key things to know…

1. Despite going 1-0 down, Liverpool raced into a 4-1 half-time lead against Arsenal on Saturday.
2. As Liverpool’s usual penalty taker, Salah converted a penalty just on the stroke of half-time.
3. The Reds won another penalty in the second half, but with Firmino on a hat-trick, Salah handed the chance to the Brazilian.
4. Firmino scored the penalty to round off a resounding 5-1 victory over the Gunners.
5. Klopp was stunned by this generous act, admitted it almost reduced him to tears.

However, in Liverpool’s 5-1 demolition of Arsenal on Saturday, Klopp’s side won a penalty with Roberto Firmino already on two goals and seeking his hat-trick; what happened next almost had the German manager reduced to tears.

“Mo Salah gave the penalty to Bobby [Firmino] and I almost cried because we all know how much Mo wants to score goals,” said Klopp. “It was really nice.”

Firmino dispatched the penalty to complete the 5-1 rout, with Liverpool having initially gone behind in the 11th minute to an Ainsley Maitland-Niles goal.

Roberto Firmino’s game by numbers vs. Arsenal:

63 touches
31 passes completed
5 shots
4 shots on target
3 goals
3 take-ons completed
2 chances created
1 interception

Hat-trick hero. pic.twitter.com/pnFYORFuQJ

— Squawka Football (@Squawka) December 29, 2018

And Klopp was delighted with the way his side responded to going behind, which hasn’t happened in the Premier League at Anfield since December 2017.

“The performance in this game suggests we remained focused on what we can affect and that is our own results,” Klopp added. “We haven’t conceded a lot of goals this year so we didn’t know how we’d react, but the response after Arsenal scored first was world-class.

“We stayed calm and really forced the mistakes. Bobby’s (Firmino) second when Sadio (Mane) won the ball. Wow. It was perfect defending, but we knew in the second half that the game wasn’t finished so we wanted to control it.

“Overall 5-1 against Arsenal doesn’t happen too often so I’m really happy with the boys.

“Now on to the next game. It doesn’t matter how big the lead is in December. We will remember that.”

Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League now stands at nine points, with a crunch-match against third-placed Manchester City up next for the Reds.

READ MORE: No-look Bobby’s back! Five things learned as Liverpool thrash Arsenal 5-1

Emery calls for VAR

After watching his side give away two penalties, Arsenal boss Unai Emery was understandably displeased. The Spaniard, however, felt he was let down by the officials, with Mohamed Salah appearing to go down very easily to win the first spot-kick.

Speaking after Saturday’s game, Emery stressed the ‘importance’ of VAR to help referees make ‘better decisions’.

He said: “The two last goals, two penalties, I think it’s a lot for us.

“I think VAR is important – it’s coming next year, because I think it’s going to help the referees to take better decisions.”

Arsenal take on Fulham in their next game.

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