Firmino might not be a regular goalscoring threat for Liverpool, but his tireless workrate opens up spaces for other players in the final third.
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When Liverpool visit Old Trafford to face Manchester United, the focus will be mainly on two in-form forwards – Cristiano Ronaldo and Mohamed Salah. But, one player, who cannot be taken lightly is Liverpool’s frontman, Roberto Firmino. The Brazilian striker has been one of the underrated stars in Jurgen Klopp’s set-up. Firmino might not be a regular goalscoring threat for Liverpool, but his tireless workrate opens up spaces for other players in the final third. Speaking about the striker, manager Jurgen Klopp explained the widespread appreciation for the Brazilian in the dressing room.
He grabbed a stunning hat-trick at Watford last weekend to help the Reds continue their positive start to the league this season. Firmino, who is now in his seventh season with the club, provided another tireless performance to help the Reds edge out 10-man Atletico Madrid 3-2 in a Champions League on Tuesday night. Ahead of the pulsating clash with Manchester United in the Premier League, Klopp was asked what makes Firmino different from other forwards.
“He is a very important player to us,” began Klopp’s assessment of the striker, who joined Liverpool from Hoffenheim in the summer of 2015.
“He is a connector. He is the best offensive defender I ever saw in my life, definitely. He is a ball chaser, he is defensively incredibly smart with all the things he is doing. He is technically on the highest level, is able to play in the smallest spaces, the tiniest spaces. Can make incredibly good decisions in a really short time.
“And, on top of that, scores goals as well. That’s why we’re all so happy when from time to time he rewards himself with now a hat-trick last week or whatever. Really, everybody in the team loves it because obviously sometimes you think he is a bit short of getting the praise or whatever for the effort he puts in.
“I’m not sure about the numbers but I’m pretty sure he was the player – 100 per cent the offensive player – who ran the most in the last game against Atletico. That says a lot. He is just a brilliant boy and a brilliant player. It’s really a joy to work together with him. The way we play is not impossible without him because we have obviously options again, which is good, but how we started playing years ago was because Bobby could play the role he played. So he was very, very influential in all the things we did.”
The match at Estadio Metropolitano saw Firmino become the 60th player in Liverpool’s history to reach the landmark of 300 appearances. He has netted 93 goals during that spell. Klopp explained: “Bobby is a very positive but very, at least with me, calm person. Everybody loves Bobby, there’s no doubt about that. The whole team. How can you not?
“If he would not be a nice person, the players would love him because he is doing all the work for them that helps them a lot. Obviously Mo and Sadio love him because he puts them up, passes the ball, even if it’s not the last pass always but the second-last.
“All the midfielders love him because he is chasing all the offensive players of the opponents in their traps. And the last line loves him, of course, as well for the same reason. Ali and him are anyway best friends. Yeah, how can you not love Bobby Firmino? There’s no reason for it. A great guy.
“And when he scores there’s always this extra little bit of joy because we always have these discussions, which are not ridiculous but we never had the discussions about Bobby not scoring enough. But we faced the questions quite frequently when there are periods when he doesn’t do that. But he wouldn’t play if he would not be incredibly important anyway in all these different situations.”
