Jurgen Klopp probably didn’t realise how quickly his words, spoken before the visit to Benfica, would return to challenge him.
Asked about his star striker Mohamed Salah’s lack of goalscoring form, the Liverpool manager hinted it could be down, in part, to the debilitating physical, and particularly mental, demands of international duty with Egypt. Without prompting, he volunteered the information that he may soon have to rest the player he describes as currently best in the world, AND his partner in crime Sadio Mane.
“We have to manage the physical part as well,” he said, almost in prediction. “Of course, these players will not come to me and ask for a break, so I have to give them the break at a specific moment. Hopefully together we use that little break and go again."
