Mohamed Salah insisted Liverpool’s players must forget about “the big picture” and “leave the pressure off the field” after helping to ease their Premier League woes by reaching the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Goals from the Egypt international and Sadio Mané ensured a second 2-0 victory against RB Leipzig in Budapest to wrap up a 4-0 aggregate victory. But after the champions suffered an unprecedented run of six successive home defeats in the league, Salah admitted the opportunity to make progress in a different competition had come as a welcome relief.
“The team is not in the best shape but we want to fight in the Champions League and we want to fight in each game in the Premier League and we will see what will happen,” he said.
“We’ve had a few injuries this season, we have been unlucky but the most important thing is we need to keep fighting. I know it’s really hard and everybody can see that, but as much as everybody tries to give 100% and keep fighting, we just need to take one game at a time.
“We don’t have to look to the big picture because sometimes when you do, we get pressure and we see too much pressure carried on to the pitch. We just need to leave the pressure off the field and just play football.”
Klopp, whose side head to Wolves in the Premier League on Monday hoping to revive their domestic form, was delighted with the performance against a team who reached the last four of the Champions League last season.
“We had to switch off that Premier League stuff, to get here and to give it a proper try,” he said. “The boys really enjoyed themselves tonight, which is important. We were doing the hardest and the dirtiest work because it was a big defending challenge.”
