Jurgen Klopp insisted Mohamed Salah’s angry reaction to being substituted was “absolutely fine” in Liverpool’s draw with Chelsea.
The Reds began their Premier League season at Stamford Bridge and made a strong start, Luis Diaz putting the visitors in front and Salah then having the ball in the net after a wonderful pass from Trent Alexander-Arnold, only for VAR to rule it out for offside.
Chelsea responded through Axel Disasi before the break and were on top for much of the second half, with Klopp turning to his bench for a double change that did not go down well with Salah.
The Egyptian and Diaz were replaced by Ben Doak and Harvey Elliott with just under 15 minutes remaining, Salah ripping off his wrist tape and throwing it to the floor as he stormed off the pitch without acknowledging Klopp. However, the Liverpool boss had no issue with the incident when asked after the match.
“I can understand because if Mo scored it would have been a new record for goals scored in the opening game but I didn’t think about that,” Klopp told Sky Sports.
“We needed stability and we needed fresh legs. It was super intense for everybody.
“That’s all I can say about it, his reaction was absolutely okay. When I sub a player and he is jumping in to my arms at 1-1 and he is a striker who thinks he will score, I would be really surprised so that’s absolutely fine.”
Liverpool starting with an incredibly attacking lineup at Stamford Bridge, with Alexis Mac Allister starting as the deepest midfielder and Dominik Szoboszlai and Cody Gakpo the two players ahead of him.
The club have been strongly linked with Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia in recent weeks but are set to miss out on both as Chelsea lead the race for the midfield duo, though Klopp was adamant the absence of a holding midfielder at Stamford Bridge was not the problem.
“Our defensive problems today had nothing to do with characteristics of the midfielders, they are a bit more offensive but all of these boys can do what we want them to do,” Klopp said.
On the Caicedo saga, he added: “No news at all.”
