Jurgen Klopp has admitted Mohamed Salah hates being left out of his Liverpool starting XI when defending his decision to bench the Egyptian as one of seven changes for the Reds' 3-3 draw with Benfica in midweek.
Coming in the middle of a Man City double-header, the forward was benched along with Sadio Mane, Virgil van Dijk, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Andy Robertson, Fabinho and Thiago Alcantara as the German rotated his side to face the Portuguese outfit, with the Reds still chasing an unprecedented quadruple.
Salah has not been at his best in recent weeks, with the forward not scoring from open play since mid-February, with international heartbreak in the Africa Cup of Nations final and World Cup qualifiers, as well as Anfield future, perhaps contributing as well as fatigue. Yet Klopp admitted he always planned to not start the forward against Benfica when explaining his decision to rotate his side, revealing his players aren't given a say if they feel fresh enough to start or not.
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"The reason for Mo not starting is easy," the German told reporters. "It was about, yes he played City but after that we hopefully have 12 games. That's why when we have an opportunity, we change. That's all. Even if Mo had scored four goals in the last game, he wouldn't have started yesterday. That's how it is. Nothing to do with anything, there's no story to make of it. It's just a necessity.
"Mo played in January and February six times 120 minutes. Now we can just close our eyes and say, "Who cares?" Even he is just a human being. That's why it's clear there will be games he doesn't start and games where we take him off. He hates that, that's clear.
"People might think what I'm doing the whole day. I'm thinking about these kind of things when these things are really necessary to do. It was clearly the case and I think the game proved it 100%.
"We spoke afterwards about conceding the goals. Yes, it was in moments not good defending. But it's nothing. A bit flat-footed and hoping for offside, that's not how you should do it. The intensity of the game showed me it was 100% to change seven times.
"That's why Mo didn't start. I just hope the boys can play at their highest level as often as somehow possible. That's what we try to do."
He continued: "Believe me, it's a massive difference if you play three days after you played a game, again 90 minutes and you go again with all you have. Or you played a few minutes in this game and today a nice session, which is intense as well but not even close to the intensity of a game.
"The boys are high-trained athletes. They don't need a lot of time for recovery. But no time for recovery? That doesn't work. That's why I made the decision. It's just logical, it's easy. If you sleep four nights in the week, only two hours, you think you're fine until the fifth day when you get a knock. That's how it is. That's with footballers as well.
"They are completely in the tunnel. They want to play, play, play, play, play. They want to be successful and win everything. That's why I don't ask players, "Are you tired?" "No, no. Why? Do I look like it?" I have to make this decision without talking a lot.
"Just make it, deal with it and go from there. My responsibility, right or wrong. We could make it so these seven players who started three days ago, four days ago now, didn't start last night. Great. Seven more players got some rhythm. Great. We are in the semi-finals. Outstanding."
Ahead of facing Man City, Klopp also offered a new injury update on Diogo Jota after the Portuguese suffered a knock against Benfica, confirming he was Liverpool' s only doubt for the trip to Wembley and will continue to be monitored ahead of the game.
"Diogo got a knock which swelled up slightly directly after the game while I was in the press conference," he said. "There's a good chance he'll be alright but we have to have a closer look tomorrow. That's it."
