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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Stephen Killen & Daniel Orme

Jurgen Klopp says Joel Matip's winner tells its own story as Liverpool see off Ajax

Jurgen Klopp revealed he did not care who scored Liverpool 's late winner against Ajax on Tuesday - just as long as the ball ended up in the back of the net.

And he insisted the subsequent celebrations showed just how much his side wanted to put their Napoli horror show behind them.

The Reds looked to be stumbling to an underwhelming draw against the Eredivisie giants on Merseyside after Mohamed Salah and Mohammed Kudus exchanged first-half strikes. That was until defender Joel Matip found himself in the right place at the right time to head home and secure three points.

It was the former Schalke man's first Champions League strike since his time with the German giants but Klopp has suggested that he did not have a preference over who would score the winner just as long as Liverpool eventually walked away with the three points.

Speaking to BT Sport after the full-time whistle, the German schemer said: " For Schalke then [Matip's last Champions League goal].. Anyway that’s a goal to forget for me. I’m not picky in that sense, it was a nice celebration and showed everything the lads thought today.

"Nothing is over not positive or negative, it was a good step, an important step for us. Now we have a strange break, pretty long and the lads only come back Wednesday or Thursday before the game but we have to hope the boys come back healthy and we have the others ready."

Before Matip's dramatic strike, the evening threatened to be a frustrating one for the Reds with Ajax remaining stubborn. Should the Dutch side have kept their hosts out, that would have seen Liverpool go winless in their first two Champions League games of the season following last week's embarrassment at the hands of Napoli.

Joel Matip celebrates his winning goal against Napoli (Getty Images)

Who was your Liverpool man-of-the-match in the victory over Ajax? Share your thoughts in the comments below

Klopp was full of praise for his side and their ability to earn what he believes was a much-deserved win in testing circumstances - especially after they were pinned back by Kudus' excellent strike.

He continued: " I think everybody could see we understood we had to put in a completely different shift into the game. Played a lot of good stuff against a tough opponent, good opponent, scored the first goal, should’ve scored more goals from set-pieces, I don’t know how these balls didn’t go in.

"I’m not sure it was the first attack but Ajax didn’t have a lot. That’s how it is, in our situation but a great strike from Kudus. In the last moments it’s difficult to defend but in the centre we were right, I’d have to watch it back. But it’s another test, if you want, everybody it was hoping it was going in the right direction but you get a knock-back. You can see the impact of that.

"The pressing before the goal was much better than it was after the goal, it was about a yard or two in these moments if we press we have to do it right.

"Half-time 1-1, it was clear we had to go back to how we started because it was intense for Ajax too. The pressure we put in tried to change, finally one of the many set-pieces led to a goal… nice."

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