Jurgen Klopp believes Diogo Jota is only starting to realise his potential after the Portuguese kept Liverpool’s title challenge ticking.
Jota netted in each half as the Reds secured a hard-earned 2-0 home Premier League win over Leicester City on Thursday evening.
It is the 10th time the forward has scored the first Liverpool goal in a game this season, with Klopp's side having again moved nine points behind leaders Manchester City with a game in hand.
And when told of the importance of such a contribution from Jota, the Reds boss said: “Absolutely true. I love 1-0s, to be honest. I love 2-0s and 3-0s as well!
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“He’s obviously in a really good goalscoring moment which is incredibly helpful. It’s always helpful, but in the absence of Mo (Salah) and Sadio (Mane) it has been extremely helpful.
“We knew he is good. But we had no idea where his limit it, or where he can go.
“I’m not sure he’s already there. He is just improving.
“If you speak to him, you will realise he is a really smart person so he will judge all the right things and use that to make the next steps.”
Jota now has 17 goals for the season with only team-mate Mohamed Salah having netted more than the 12 he has accrued in the Premier League.
Salah made his Liverpool return after five weeks away on Africa Cup of Nations duty with a 30-minute appearance from the bench in which he three times came close to scoring and could have had a penalty when caught heavily by Daniel Amartey,
And Klopp said: “What a quality player he is.
“The counter-attack he had was genius. The defender slipped and he walked away. Unfortunately, Kasper Schmeichel is not a bad goalie and he made an incredible save.
“We won 2-0, and there was a tackle for sure (after Salah had the shot) that I’m not sure how you judge that 100% from a ref point of view.
“Then Mo hit the crossbar, an incredible situation. That’s just Mo.
“He had 35 minutes roundabout, that was the idea. We played a lot of football in the first 60 minutes so that’s tiring for the opponent again.
“Mo coming on gives you a different dimension and we nearly used that.”
