Jurgen Klopp has revealed how Naby Keita was mobbed by his Liverpool team-mates in the dressing room following their thrilling 3-1 win at Southampton.
The £52.5million midfielder marked his first Premier League start for two months with his first goal for the Reds at St Mary's.
Only Sadio Mane celebrated with Keita after he had equalised with a first-half header, but Klopp insists that was only because the rest of the side were so keen to get on with the game. The manager says they saved their congratulations for after the match on the south coast.
Klopp said: “I don’t know exactly why (they didn’t celebrate), it’s for sure nothing to do with Naby!
“They were really happy for him in the dressing room, he had multiple hugs!
“But in the moment they probably didn’t think if it was in or whatever, I didn’t see it back, but that’s probably the reason. And the other thing is it was 1-1 and we wanted to win so the boys obviously decided not to celebrate it like crazy because there was still a job to do.”
See how Naby Keita and the rest of Liverpool's players rated in their victory over Southampton HERE
Klopp believes the goal was the perfect boost to Keita's confidence levels after a difficult first season at the club during which he has struggled to hold down a place in the team.
“It was a fantastic moment,” Klopp added.
“Naby had two difficult situations where he lost two balls in the beginning but then he was in the game and helped us so much in the second half.
“He was there for the small passes, the closing of the right spaces, passing in the right spaces, it was really good. The goal helped him for sure.”
