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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport

Jurgen Klopp 'never prouder' as Liverpool reach Champions League knockout stage

Klopp: "I'm not sure a manager was ever more proud of a team than I am at the moment." (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp declared himself the proudest manager in football, after his “outstanding” side qualified for the Champions League knockout stage with a 1-0 win over Napoli at Anfield.

With PSG thrashing Red Star Belgrade 4-1, Klopp’s side needed to beat Napoli either 1-0 or by two clear goals to reach the last 16.

Mo Salah’s first half strike gave the Reds an early lead, and though they dominated much of the game, they still needed Alisson Becker’s superb stoppage time save from Arkadiusz Milik to secure qualification.

“It's unbelievable,” Klopp told BT Sport. “I'm not sure a manager was ever more proud of a team than I am at the moment.

"Mo scored an unbelievable goal and Ali made a save - I have no idea how you can make a save like this.

Salah's finish past David Ospina proved decisive

“Together with the crowd, together with the stadium it was just outstanding. We played an outstanding game.

“Watch all the Napoli games and find a team who caused them the problems we caused them tonight.”

Liverpool progress in second place in Group C, despite losing half of their games, and Klopp admitted that defeats in Naples and away to Red Star Belgrade would ultimately have been to blame had his side crashed out.

Liverpool's Brazilian 'keeper made a brilliant late save to preserve his clean sheet

“The only good thing about the first game at Napoli was they have no clue who we are. We were like our ugly brother or something.

"If we went out, we wouldn't have gone out tonight, we would've gone out three or four weeks ago - at Napoli where we deserved to lose, at Belgrade where we deserved to lose.

“It was just wild and we were ready for that. What a game. Unbelievable. That's Anfield life.”

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