LIVERPOOL (Reuters) – On the day Mohamed Salah scored his 150th goal for Liverpool in a 3-1 win over Norwich City, new signing Luis Diaz registered the first of what manager Juergen Klopp hopes will be many.
The Colombian who joined from Porto at the end of January, scored with 10 minutes left to kill off plucky Norwich, dinking a superb finish from Jordan Henderson’s through pass.
While Egyptian talisman Salah, who only trails Roger Hunt in the amount of games needed to reach 150, and Sadio Mane’s overhead kick goal grabbed the headlines, Diaz could be a crucial figure in the title race.
Especially with Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino injured.
Klopp has almost run out of superlatives for Salah and was asked afterwards about the forward’s goal haul and some of his favourites from the collection.
“Today was a really cheeky one to be honest,” Klopp said. “I remember the Chelsea goal where he cut inside and thunderbolt in the far corner, a few of the dribbling ones, against City and Watford. The United goal I like a lot.
“I can’t remember all 150 but I can remember a lot. There were some good goals. The first one at Watford, that was maybe the easiest goal he scored since he was here.
“Nobody could expect on that day when he scored at Watford in this period of time it would be possible for him to score 149 more. Really special.”
Klopp also reserved praise for Diaz.
“We saw now two games when Luis played — came on or played – where he was absolutely incredible. Today it was hard work for him as well, it was a tricky one, a tricky encounter.
“So then staying on the pitch, staying in the game shows then the real quality because we changed system and brought Luis in the centre and Sadio in his natural position.
“He’s just an outstanding talent, a really, really good player. I think he is very happy tonight. He should be.”
On an otherwise perfect day for Liverpool in their quest to reel in Manchester City, the only cloud was the news that Firmino could be out for a few games.
“With Diogo, it looks a little bit better than we first thought,” Klopp said. “With Bobby, we didn’t even know that he had something until he felt it only after the game (in midweek).
“We all thought it is a little thing, but it’s a muscle injury and we have to see how long it will take.”
(Reporting by Martyn Herman, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
