Jürgen Klopp has said he has no regrets about leaving Daniel Sturridge on the bench for their Europa League semi-final defeat in Villarreal and says he would do the same again.
The striker, who has scored four goals in his last five matches, was an unused substitute in Spain on Thursday as Liverpool went down to a stoppage-time winner from Adrián López in the first-leg tie.
The decision generated thousands of posts on social media and frenzied calls on radio phone-in shows but Klopp shrugged off the talk and defended his tactics.
“It is about finding a stability. With decisions like this it is always two questions,” he said.
“Was it the right decision to choose this lineup? With a 1-0 defeat you cannot be sure it is 100 per cent right. The next question is: Would I do it again? Yes. Then it is finished and I don’t have to think about it again.
“That is my life – making decisions and in the end accepting the result. With Daniel in particular it is not about how it is always, it was a decision for this lineup. That is very important. It was not against Daniel.
“My job is not to do what you the media want, what the player wants, it is to try to help the player and help the team in this moment.
“I always try to do my best and because I am not perfect maybe it sometimes does not work. But next time I will try it again.”
The 26-year-old will return to the team for Sunday’s trip to Swansea and Klopp has no doubts the England forward will be ready to prove a point.
“The mentality of Daniel is really good, very confident, because he has all these qualities and he knows about these qualities,” added the German.
“Daniel came back from injury and now he is fit for the longest period [for a long time]. That is very important.
“We could have let him play in the first few weeks, hoping he could do something special, but that would not have been the right decision for him because then he would have been injured again. It does not work. The Premier League, Europa League, everything is too intense.
“It is about balance absolutely always. I’ve said a few times that I always think more about the strengths of a player than the weaknesses.”
