Jurgen Klopp was able to select Mo Salah in his starting line-up for only the second time in 2024 – and was required to play him for 90 minutes which led to a surprising request

Jurgen Klopp revealed that he did something that he never had before in Liverpool’s win over Sparta Prague – telling Mohamed Salah to stop defending.

The Liverpool boss was able to start the Egyptian winger for the first time since New Year’s Day in the Reds’ win over Sparta Prague at Anfield.

Klopp’s side were able to earn their place in the Europa League quarter-final with an 11-2 aggregate win and will next face Atalanta.

The German coach probably did not expect to have to utilise Salah for the duration of the game having been cautious over his return in recent weeks. However, given the side’s recent injury problems and more concerns on Thursday evening, Klopp was left with little other choice than to leave his star on the field.

The 56-year-old made precautionary moves in replacing Darwin Nunez, Wataru Endo and Joe Gomez on Thursday evening. It was Bobby Clark’s injury that saw Klopp placed in a difficult situation and resulted in him asking Salah not to work too hard.

He explained: “I’m not sure what happened to Kostas, I’m sure that he will be fine though. For Bobby like I said he felt something, but it was intense for the boy, he was running around like crazy. Let’s hope that’s nothing.

“Besides that the subs for Joe [Gomez] was a precaution, Wataru [Endo] was a precaution, Darwin was a precaution. And Mo already recovered in the second half so all good.

“Mo is a very experienced player, I told him if he has to stay on then he may have to play the full game. He did and it was the first time I told someone to stop defending. He actually then nearly made another goal but Cody was offside. He’s very experienced so he got easily over the line.

Mo Salah has scored 20 goals this season (
Image:
Getty Images)
“He [Clark] played incredibly. It was his first goal but he won the ball back after another one. He is the one I am worried a bit about, we wanted to take off Mo [Salah], but Bobby sits on the ground and says he feels something in the ankle. Hopefully, it is nothing. The steps the boy made though, pfff [wow].

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“We’ve had such a difficult situation with all the injuries and then the boys stepped in and took their chances. So very happy with that, they were exceptional again.”