Jurgen Klopp claimed the post-match question about Roberto Firmino was symptomatic of a larger issue in society.
Diogo Jota vindicated his selection with a hat-trick for Liverpool against Atalanta in the Champions League on Tuesday night and Jurgen Klopp wanted to celebrate his new forward’s celebration rather than focus on the fact that Roberto Firmino started the game on the bench.
Jota now has as many goals for Liverpool in 2020 as Firmino, despite the fact that the Portuguese forward only signed for the Reds six weeks ago.
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Our hat-trick hero ? pic.twitter.com/4c6xFReg0c
— Liverpool FC (@LFC) November 3, 2020
Klopp took issue with one question about where Jota’s incredible performance leaves Firmino in the pecking order.
Responding to the Firmino question, Klopp said: “The world is sometimes a bad place, that in the moment when somebody is shining we immediately speak about another player who played what feels like 500 games in a row.
“Without Bobby Firmino, we would not be in the Champions League even.
“He will be in the team, and for a lot of people in the world if you ask them ‘what makes Liverpool special?’ they would say ‘the way Bobby Firmino is playing’.
“For us it is important that we have more than 11. Tonight, Diogo played a super, super game but that says nothing about Bobby, and has nothing to do with me causing headaches.
16': ⚽️
33': ⚽️
54': ⚽️Diogo Jota scored his first Liverpool hat-trick vs. Atalanta!
He's on fire ? pic.twitter.com/1Tx0NWDFM7
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) November 4, 2020
“I am more than happy that the boys played like they played tonight.”
Klopp rejected suggestions that he has been left with a selection headache with four players to fit in three positions.
The Liverpool manager explained that Jota simply suited the strategy used to defeat Atalanta 5-0, while Firmino had earned a rest.
“Good performances never give me a headache!” Klopp insisted.
“Tonight the decision was clear, it made sense first of all to use the good shape Diogo was in, and secondly because of the way Atalanta plays and defends, we should use the skillset of Diogo to help us.”
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