Harvey Elliott has revealed what Mohamed Salah told him just before his goal against Rangers was confirmed and his given his view on his recent positional change.
Liverpool came from a goal behind to claim an emphatic Champions League victory over the Gers at Ibrox on Wednesday night. Roberto Firmino scored a brace, supported by a strike from Darwin Nunez and a quickfire Mohamed Salah hat-trick, with Elliott scoring in the final minutes of the match.
However, the youngster’s strike was initially chalked off after he was judged to be offside. But following a VAR review, the goal was given with Salah, who had just moments before whispered something in his ear, quick to celebrate with his team-mate.
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“I mean, it was a bit of mixed emotions, to be fair,” Elliott told liverpoolfc.com when asked about the goal. “I was annoyed and I was not annoyed at the same time, obviously having to wait isn’t the best feeling in the world.
“To be honest, I don’t really like waiting in general for things! But it was an iconic moment for myself, to have Mo there in the background and he just kept whispering in my ear: ‘It’s a goal, it’s a goal!’ But I was just thinking to myself, ‘Don’t celebrate too early, don’t celebrate too early!’
“I was just hoping that it was going to get allowed in the end and VAR were going to overrule it and give it as a goal, which they did.
“But for me, it was just a sigh of relief, to be honest. I think it was a great game for the team and for me personally I was more than happy with how the team played and the result.
“I think just to top it off and get the seventh, it was the cherry on the top, to be honest. To be able to celebrate with the fans as well, it was not how I wanted it to be because I wished I could do it just off the back of scoring, but at least it was still allowed and I got to celebrate with them partially, which was good.”
Elliott has been learning his trade as a central midfielder over the last 12 months, but against Rangers in midweek, he operated on the right of a four at Ibrox. But the change is something he is simply just taking in his stride as he continues to learn and develop.
“It’s nothing [too different] to what I’ve been used to, to be honest,” he said when asked about the change. "I came here as a sort of right-sided player, whether that’s on the wing or in the middle.
"It was just something different, something fresh, which is always nice to switch it up and [have] different responsibilities again that I’ve learned from that game and took into my game now.
“For myself, personally I really enjoyed it. As I said, it was something different, something else that I could learn and take into my game and help me improve. But yeah, I think it’s always nice wherever you play on the pitch as long as you win. That’s the only thing that matters.”
Next up for Liverpool is a huge Premier League clash against Manchester City, who have the chance to move 16 points clear of the Reds if they claim all three points at Anfield.
Liverpool beat City 3-1 in this season's Community Shield at Leicester's King Power Stadium and Elliott has revealed that Jurgen Klopp has urged his side to carry on where they left off against Rangers.
“Just to carry this momentum on, to be honest,” he replied when asked about the message from his boss. “Especially coming off a 7-1 win, we’re as confident as ever I think and that performance showed what we really are about and what we can do.
“City is going to be a different game; it’s going to be, I think, a lot more intense from start to finish. Obviously they are going to come at us and obviously try to build on what they’ve done this season.
“So it’s just down to us to make sure we’re prepared, make sure we’re ready, and hopefully we can top off another win at the weekend.
“It’s going to be very hard and a lot of hard work needs to go in in training from now until then, but we’re probably in the best possible position going into the game coming off this win.”
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