Salah scores 50th Premier League goal in win
Monday 15 April 2019 11:00, UK
Jurgen Klopp praised "world-class" Mohamed Salah after he scored twice to help Liverpool win 4-3 against Crystal Palace.
Salah levelled the game shortly after half-time and then scored his 50th Premier League goal after an error from Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni.
"He's a world-class player," said Klopp, who celebrated wildly at the final whistle.
"It worked really well bringing him from Roma, it was absolutely a win-win situation. He benefits a lot from the way the team is playing and his scoring desire and being in the right positions is a really rare skill, which is why everyone is looking for players like this. It's just fantastic."
The win moves Liverpool seven points clear at the top of the Premier League, with second-placed Manchester City playing Huddersfield on Sunday, live on Sky Sports.
The Reds were pushed hard by Palace, who led at half-time and equalised at 2-2, but Salah and Sadio Mane struck to ensure victory.
"It was clear we had to step up a bit," said Klopp. "In the first half we were dominant like not that often before, but in the end it worked out for Palace because they are strong on the counter-attack, especially if they use Wilfried Zaha, who is not easy to defend on one-on-one situations - what a player.
"We needed more direction and to put more pressure on their last line. We created too much without having someone in a finishing position so we had to change that.
"We forced it a bit more, scored two really quick goals and then again we wanted to control the game more but it's difficult. The boys were not 100 per cent sure if we were still attacking or controlling and you could see that, so they could get their set-pieces, which are brilliant. They equalised.
"We scored, maybe a bit lucky for 3-2, then Sadio [Mane] scored a world-class goal for 4-2 and then injury-time they scored a third so it stayed exciting until the end, but I am very happy with the result."
Liverpool now have a warm weather training camp before their next Premier League game on January 30 against Leicester.
"It's only a couple of days then we come back and prepare for Leicester, hopefully it will be a little energiser," said Klopp.
"We need that as we had a few knocks and the players need two days to rest and then nine days to prepare for Leicester."
