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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Freddie Keighley

Mohamed Salah supported by Liverpool teammates in 2am ritual after Jurgen Klopp defence

Liverpool forward Mohamed Salah basked in the Champions League victory over Benfica with a late-night recovery session in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The Egyptian was joined in the swimming pool by defenders Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson after the Reds won 3-1 at the Estadio da Luz in the first leg of their quarter-final.

Ibrahima Konate and Sadio Mane scored in the first half and Luis Diaz restored the visitors' two-goal lead after Darwin Nunez temporarily halved the deficit.

Salah was unusually wasteful in front of goal and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp confessed he is enduring a "tough period" amid the uncertainty surrounding his future at Anfield.

However, that did little to dampen his mood following the victory in Portugal and he had a beaming smile on his face as he rehabilitated in the pool after the match.

Alexander-Arnold and Robertson looked similarly pleased with their nights' work having played key roles in the first-leg success.

Left-back Robertson provided the assist for Konate's opener with a 17th-minute corner while right-back Alexander-Arnold created Liverpool's second goal with a precise diagonal pass to Diaz, who teed-up Mane with a header. Salah posted the picture alongside his two teammates on his Instagram page at 2am and captioned it: "Recovery time."

This is not the first time the former Chelsea star has been seen recovering late into the night. In fact, he was up even later following September's group-stage victory over AC Milan and shared a post from the pool at 3am, this time on his own.

It appears Alexander-Arnold and Robertson were keen to get in on the act following the win over Benfica but the latter insisted there is still plenty of work to be done in next Wednesday's second leg.

Are you concerned by Mohamed Salah's form? Have your say in the comments!

"The third goal was big but there's definitely still work to do," the Scotland captain said. "He [Diaz] got a nice reception from the start, obviously playing for one of their rivals [Porto] and things like that.

So, a good finish from him, a really important goal for us. It gives us a two-goal cushion, which makes a difference, and it's important that we make that count now.

"Next week, it's still a big game. We want to be in the semi-final and we've still got a lot of work to get there. But with our fans at our stadium, we can hopefully get the job done." Before hosting the Portuguese giants, Liverpool are in Premier League action on Sunday for a blockbuster top-of-the-table affair against Manchester City.

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