Jurgen Klopp believes Mo Salah has the consistency to pop up with a Champions League-saving goal against Atletico Madrid at Anfield on Wednesday.
The holders come into this Last-16 second leg trailing 1-0 and coach Klopp is backing his Egyptian ace to come up with another vital strike after he scored the equaliser in the Reds’ 2-1 comeback Premier League win over Bournemouth at the weekend.
That effort was his 70th in the division for the club on his 100th league appearance.
It also meant the Egyptian hitman has netted 20 times or more in all competitions for the third campaign in a row - becoming the first Liverpool player to achieve that feat since Michael Owen in 2002-03.
IN SEARCH OF RELIEF: Reds coach Klopp, right. Picture: Jon Super/AP.
Asked how much that cements Salah’s place as one of the club’s great modern forwards, Klopp says: “I don’t think he needed that goal to do that, but it helps obviously that people [will] remember you.
“Incredibly important goal, a super performance - a really, really good game for Mo.
“He is an outstanding striker, a world-class striker.
“It’s really nice, I’m really happy for him that he reached that mark and I think Sadio [Mane, 77 goals in 160 games across all competitions for the Reds] has the chance to do similar stuff. That would be really cool.
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“We need the boys because with all the good stuff you can do on the pitch, in the end you need somebody to finish it off and very often, thank God, it was Mo.”