Klopp: My team is so smart and always ready for the fight

Jürgen Klopp has hailed the resilience and intelligence of his side after Liverpool passed a searching test against RB Salzburg on Tuesday.

Two goals in as many minutes just before the hour mark by Naby Keita and a brilliant Mo Salah finish were enough for the Reds to progress to the knockout stages.

While the result may look routine in the record books in the years ahead, it was anything but as the visitors had to be at their defensive best to keep a clean sheet against their high octane opponents.

What would have undoubtedly impressed Klopp the most was that his side were able to get the job done once again in a pressurised situation.

A loss in this fixture would have meant Europa League duty, which would have been a massive blow to confidence within the squad.

But the mentality that this team has been built upon came to the fore and Klopp told the assembled media pack afterwards about the pride he felt, as well as paying a glowing tribute to their opponents.

The Mirror reported the manager as saying:

“I couldn't have more respect for what Salzburg are doing.

"You see how good they are, how good they were in the first game, how good they were against Napoli.

“You could come here as current Champions League winners and misunderstand it.

"But my team is so smart, and I really love it that they listen and put a shift in like that.

“ Salzburg were unbelievably strong especially in the first half but we were as well and were ready for the fight. 

“We should have scored in the first half and then in the second half, it's not easy to keep that intensity but we scored the goals.”

Salah had what you could describe as a mixed evening at the office.

He was unusually wasteful in front of goal, but made up for that with a goal from an incredibly acute angle which only the very best of players could even contemplate of scoring.

"How do I explain it? Thank God I don't have to! It was for sure the most difficult situation he had tonight.

“He played really well but didn't score in the situations we expect him to score, staying on track and making such a decisive but difficult finish says probably much more about him than all the other goals he scored.

“He stayed concentrated, believed in the next moment and it was a very, very good goal. A sensational finish.”