Goals from Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Naby Keita helped Liverpool register a 3-0 victory against Crystal Palace in the Premier League.
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Liverpool’s scoreline against Crystal Palace in the Premier League might read 3-0, but their manager Jurgen Klopp explained how difficult a contest it was. He called it as “one of the most hard-fought 3-0s I ever saw”. Sadio Mane opened the scoring, which was his 100th goal for the club. The goal was scored a couple of minutes before half-time and it set the Reds on their way to a battling victory on Saturday. Mohamed Salah then made it 2-0 in the 78th minute before Naby Keita’s sensational volley from distance wrapped up the win. It puts Klopp’s side top of the Premier League table, having amassed 13 points from five games.
When asked whether Salah’s goal offered a reminder that he is among the best forwards in Europe, Klopp said in his post-match press conference, “No, we were not here today for sending any kind of signs to the outside world. We were here to fight a real strong Crystal Palace team, that was really a tough one. We could have scored from other situations but didn’t so we needed our set-pieces. That Mo scored should not be a massive surprise. Sadio scored for the ninth time in a row against Crystal Palace, which is exceptional, and he scored his 100th goal for Liverpool in all competitions, which is exceptional.”
“Naby Keita scored the most wonderful goal of all three, so that’s all important for us. But I told the boys after the game that this was one of the most hard-fought 3-0s I ever saw. We had to give absolutely everything. So, I’m really pleased, I’m really pleased. In a season, when you are Liverpool, you win football games from time to time. When you win, usually you are really good or brilliant. Today we were not brilliant but we were good.
“We accepted the battle Crystal Palace was here for and that’s why I am really happy about the result, really happy about the performance. This Sunday-Wednesday-Saturday rhythm is just the most tricky one in the Premier League and so that we came through that now in the moment is very important, with all the changes we had to make and one we didn’t want to make but that worked out really well with Millie on right-back. So, it was not brilliant, but really good and I liked that.”
The Liverpool manager also spoke about Mane’s contribution to the team since joining in 2016. “He did, he did [contribute so much]. People obviously forget but around these 100 goals he worked incredibly hard, defended for us the wing, pressed high, counter-pressed, created goals, set up chances, all that kind of stuff,” he added.
“So the 100 goals are just one number, there are so many other numbers which are similarly important, but I’m really happy for him that he could reach that today. Yeah, a massive achievement. In the glorious history of this club only 18 players – if that is right – scored 100 goals, that says a lot. Nowadays players are usually not that long in clubs so I am really happy that I could work now already for five years with Sad and he’s just a top player.”
