Jurgen Klopp understands Mohamed Salah's emotional response to Liverpool failing to qualify for the Champions League - and has dismissed fears over the Egyptian's mindset.
Salah posted a message on social media moments after Manchester United's 4-1 win over Chelsea on Thursday night consigned the Reds to a fifth-place finish, saying he was "totally devastated" and there was "no excuse" for failing to qualify for Europe's elite competition.
Next season will be the first since 2016/17 - the campaign before Salah arrived - that Klopp's side are not in the Champions League.
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But Klopp has no qualms with reaction of the forward to Liverpool's shortcoming even if he believes there should be reasons for optimism despite such a difficult campaign.
"I've heard it," said the Reds boss of Salah's social media post. "Of course the moment when it is a fact you cannot qualify for the Champions League anymore... even when I knew after the last game they (Newcastle and United) need only one point, for me it was clear they would get that point. So I drew kind of a line underneath it. I'm a very optimistic person but in this moment I couldn't see it.
"It is completely normal (about Salah comment). In the world of social media so many bad things happen constantly and I don't think that was one of them. It was a just a normal description of his situation, of his feeling, and in that moment directly after the game he's right, it's not the moment to immediately any send optimistic messages but maybe an hour or a day later.
"But I saw him now in the canteen and he was smiling. I don't know for which reason as I didn't ask him, but he is not in a bad mood. That's it.
"I find a lot of reasons for optimism. But I understand directly after the game when it was decided, that's the moment you feel it .And for me it was no different to Mo. Even though I may have hoped a little bit less than him, but that's absolutely fine."
Klopp added: "We are in a season not since this week but for a long time and it was clear from a specific point on it would not be a historically good season. I think we said everything about it, we are absolutely not happy with it. We made mistakes, we couldn't deliver often enough and were not consistent enough.
"After Dubai and the training camp during the World Cup, it was not that everything was great but the amount of points we have won since then is pretty good. If we could have done that over the whole season, we would be in a different place."
Liverpool will finish the season with 69 points - the same tally as when they finished third in 2020/21 - with victory in their final Premier League game at relegated Southampton on Sunday, having taken 22 points from the last 24 to seal at least Europa League football next season.
The Reds will strengthen their squad during the transfer window with two new midfielders a priority. And Klopp is convinced the experiences of such a difficult season can hold his squad in good stead going forward.
"There are reasons for optimism because of the things we have shown in the last few weeks, that's definitely the case," he said. "There are other reasons for an optimistic view because of the atmosphere our people created in the last home game after the Villa game. The way the club said farewell (to players), the following day how Bobby (Firmino) said farewell, all these kind of things are absolutely the basis for a fantastic future.
"We don't have to make this bigger than it is. It's a football season, we didn't deliver what everybody wanted or expected. But we are still really united, that's the good thing about it. If you can go through difficult moments like we did in the last season, that's a really good basis for a better future.
"The dressing room is not in a bad mood. We have learned to deal with the situation. We didn't get divided in one moment between manager and team, which is super helpful. We didn't point fingers at each other. That's all good. If you don't qualify for the Champions League, the best place you can possibly end up is fifth, so that's what we did. If you'd have asked me 10 games ago if that was possible, I'd have said no.
"That the boys did that is really good. But it's not perfect, we didn't end up fifth because of the last 10 games, we ended up there because of the lack of consistency before that. We are very self-critical, but there's no reason why we should put the head down and leave it there until the new season starts. I saw very good signs and that's the thing I will take for next season."
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