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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Paul Gorst

Jurgen Klopp can't contain himself over what Liverpool youngster did against Leicester

Liverpool's Anfield return was a successful one as they edged out Leicester City 2-1 in a hard-fought contest on Friday night.

After falling behind to Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall's early opener, the Reds eventually responded in the first half when Wout Faes sliced a clearance from Trent Alexander-Arnold's cross over goalkeeper Danny Ward into his own net.

The Belgian defender's night went from bad to worse a few minutes later when he again converted past Ward after Darwin Nunez's clipped finish had come back off the post.

But you knew all of that, of course. What you might have missed however were a series of intriguing subplots on the night.

Klopp's furious

With Liverpool in possession of a slender lead, Leicester were continuing to pile forward in the closing seconds of the game.

Liverpool had every man behind the ball and were trying to see out the game for the precious three points when manager Jurgen Klopp had clearly felt enough was enough.

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It's unclear exactly how much additional time had been played but it was too much for the Reds boss who wildly gesticulated towards the officials that time, in his opinion, was clearly up.

Klopp was furious at seeing the game continue as he bellowed towards the referee for the full-time whistle to be blown, but he needn't have worried as his side held on for the final few seconds to secure a vital victory in their top-four push.

Diaz spotted

The pre-match build to this one was dominated by the spotting of new signing Cody Gakpo, whose arrival from PSV Eindhoven was confirmed on December 28.

The Dutchman was sitting in one of the Main Stand lounges for the game with his partner after getting to meet the great and the good of Anfield that included the legendary Ian Rush.

But there was another ineligible Liverpool attacker who was also at the game in Luis Diaz, who was visible at pitch-side before kick-off, still on crutches. It was Diaz's first public sighting since he was forced to fly back to Merseyside from Dubai to go under the knife.

The Colombian winger underwent surgery earlier this month after a serious setback in his recovery from injury. He is not expected to be back until March but was at least there to oversee events on the night. Sadly, it was not the injury update Liverpool fans were hoping to see.

"Shooooot!"

Wout Faes' comical own goals were good enough to appear on the end-of-season blooper compilations and the Belgian will have likely wanted the ground to swallow him up at half time.

To add insult to injury, the Kop's gallows humour saw them howl "shoot!" every time Faes had the ball for the entirety of the second half. His Wikipedia page was even changed to cheekily claim that the Leicester centre-half was in fact a striker for Liverpool!

It's harsh in the extreme, but Premier League football is not the place for shrinking violets. It never has been.

"I really feel for him," Klopp said after the game. "Of course I feel sympathy, but whatever I say now will not change it. But the boy will get through it and he will be fine."

Baj of honour

One of Klopp 's biggest cheers of the night came in the closing stages when substitute Stefan Bajcetic earned his approval.

The teenage midfielder became the third youngest Liverpool scorer in Premier League history at Villa Park on Boxing Day and his standing in the eyes of his manager only grew further with a short cameo on Friday night.

With Liverpool holding on to a slender lead, Bajcetic delighted his manager when he closed down a Luke Thomas clearance to concede a throw and deny the visitors the chance of getting up the pitch.

Klopp could not contain his delight with the youngster throwing out a trademark fist bump and roar into the Anfield air in praise for Bajcetic, whose profile continues to rise.

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