Jurgen Klopp Plays Down Record-Breaking 50th European Win
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp played down his record-breaking 50th European win after the 3-1 victory over LASK in Austria. His side came from behind for the fourth time in six matches as goals from Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and substitute Mohamed Salah secured the German’s 50th European victory for the club – surpassing the record he held with Rafael Benitez.
“Let me say it like this, if I still have 50 after the group stage, then even if I’ve still got the most wins in Europe as a Liverpool manager then everybody will hate that,” he said. “The highest number of wins but everybody will hate it. So it’s nice – we have played a lot of games in Europe, but it is good we have won that many and we have frequently qualified for finals.”
Klopp made 11 changes from the weekend win over Wolves and that contributed to the disjointed, sluggish start. LASK, in the biggest game in their history, took full advantage as they flew out of the blocks and scored through Florian Flecker’s expertly taken strike from a well-rehearsed corner.
“Tough start, yes. Obviously the first shot on target after a set-piece and we conceded,” the Reds boss added. “We had very good moments but I saw the boys didn’t feel that. It was not that we could gain confidence from our good moments – we didn’t seem to think we should do that again. So we suffered from the less good moments confidence-wise and frustration grew. It makes no sense. Human, but it makes no sense anyway.”
Klopp showed his team two football situations from the first half where they did pretty well at half-time to get rid of the frustration and turn the game around. This worked as Liverpool equalized through Darwin Nunez’s penalty kick and then Luis Diaz scored to give them the lead. Mohamed Salah sealed the win with a late goal.
Despite his record-breaking win, Klopp was humble in his post-match press conference. “No, it’s great but probably because the competition now has so many more games than in the past,” he said.
LASK coach Thomas Sageder was disappointed they could not capitalise on their good start. “We played very brave, we were aggressive and we had a chance to score the second goal but it was only 1-0 at half-time,” he said. “In the second half we saw how good a team Liverpool were but we fought to the end.”
Jurgen Klopp’s record-breaking 50th European win is a testament to his success as Liverpool manager. His humility and ability to motivate his team to come back from behind shows why he is one of the best managers in the world. With Liverpool’s strong performance in Europe over the past few years, Klopp’s record-breaking win is sure to be just one of many more to come.