Jurgen Klopp does not believe there is any team that would not miss Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane, after Liverpool felt the duo's absence against Arsenal.
Salah and Mane, along with midfielder Naby Keita, are on international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations.
Mane scored a last-gasp winner on Monday for Senegal against Zimbabwe, and he and Guinea's Keita go head-to-head when their nations face off on Friday.
Salah, meanwhile, was kept quiet as Egypt slipped to a 1-0 loss to Nigeria in their opening group game. The forward, who has netted 23 times across all competitions this season for Liverpool, had just four touches in the opposition box and managed just one attempt, which did hit the target, in Monday's game.
Klopp would have loved to have the star duo at his disposal on Thursday, however, as Liverpool were frustrated by 10-man Arsenal in the first leg of their EFL Cup semi-final at Anfield.
Granit Xhaka's dismissal midway through the first half resulted in Mikel Arteta switching to an incredibly compact 5-3-1 system, which Liverpool were unable to break down.
The Reds had 78.1 per cent of the ball and 17 attempts to Arsenal's three, though only one of them – a stoppage-time effort from Curtis Jones – troubled Aaron Ramsdale.
Arsenal's goalkeeper had gifted Takumi Minamino a golden opportunity in the 90th minute, but the Japan international, who had a game-leading six attempts, failed to keep his shot down with the goal gaping. The chance was Liverpool's best of the game, according to Opta, with an expected goals (xG) value of 0.384.
Asked in a post-match news conference if Liverpool could have been better prepared for the absences of key players, Klopp replied: "Any team would miss Salah, Mane and Keita.
"Could we be prepared for it? I don't think so.
"We've known that already for years. This team was what we had tonight, it can play and score, definitely."
The Anfield leg of the semi-final had originally been set to be the second fixture, but a COVID-19 outbreak at Liverpool saw last week's game at Emirates Stadium postponed.
Klopp will now take his side down to north London next week knowing it is winner takes all for a place in the final against Chelsea.
"We weren't creative enough. We didn't do some things well enough but in the end it's 0-0, half-time [in the tie]," he said.
"We don't think this tie is over for us. We will give it a proper try next Thursday."
Should they progress to a Wembley showdown with Chelsea, Liverpool – who face Brentford in the Premier League on Sunday – will be bidding to win the EFL Cup for a record ninth time.
Jurgen Klopp satisfied as Liverpool secure top spot with a game to spare
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp declared himself satisfied with the 4-0 victory over LASK which secured top spot in their Europa League group with a match to spare.
Two goals from Cody Gakpo and one apiece from Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah, his 199th for the club, saw them coast past the Austrians at Anfield.
Toulouse’s draw with Union Saint-Gilloise meant Klopp’s side cannot be caught at the top and crucially that means avoiding the play-off round when the competition restarts in February.
“Two top results for us tonight in the group,” said Klopp.
“It was clear, with the defeat at Toulouse (last time out) we made it a bit more tricky but because of our result and their result we are now top of the table and that will not change.
“That’s good, very important in the busy schedule we have from now on.
“A lot of positives in the game, a lot of good football. The thing I didn’t like too much, and told the boys at half-time, (was) this game should have been put to bed already at half-time.
“You cannot play better, you cannot set it up better, (but) you can finish it better obviously – but we didn’t.
“Caoimhin (Kelleher) worked for his clean sheet, which he desperately wanted, and that’s good.
“We scored a fourth goal in the last minute or whatever, so result top, performance really good (and) nobody got injured. All good.”
Liverpool are favourites for the Europa League but having put themselves firmly in the title race the demands on Klopp’s side are likely to be significant when the competition resumes.
However, the Reds boss refused to relegate Europe to a second-tier ambition.
“Unfortunately, my career is not like this where I can choose, to be honest,” he added.
“I have to take what I get. When we play the competition it’s the most important competition on the planet. Easy as that.
“But now we play Premier League on Sunday (at home to Fulham) and so that is then the most important competition, definitely.
“We want to go as far as somehow possible (in the Europa League).”
Gakpo said the squad were determined to compete in all competitions they were in.
“We have to keep going because we have big goals for the season. That’s it,” he told TNT Sports.
“We just have to keep going and win as much as possible. We have a lot of quality in the group and I think with this quality we can win a lot of games.”
Mohamed Salah closes in on 200 club as Liverpool confirm top spot
Liverpool cruised into the Europa League knock-out stages with a match to spare as a 4-0 victory over LASK confirmed their place as group winners.
Early goals from Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo were enhanced by a second-half Mohamed Salah penalty – his 199th goal for the club – and an added-time strike by Gakpo as Toulouse’s draw with Union Saint-Gilloise means a dreaded round-of-32 play-off was avoided.
That mere fact alone will have delighted manager Jurgen Klopp, whose pre-match press conference had been littered with references to the intense December period ahead, but a club-record 12 points in the group stage shows how dominant the tournament favourites have been.
The Reds’ 100 percent home record was extended to 10 games and a third successive Anfield clean sheet for the first time since October 2022 means they have only conceded four times in front of their own fans while scoring 30.
In reality, that record was never in danger as the Austrians are the weakest side in the group and that frailty was exposed twice inside three minutes early on by a home side registering nine changes, with only Salah and left-back Kostas Tsimikas retained from the weekend draw at Manchester City.
A move which started on the left ended up on the right from where Joe Gomez crossed for Diaz to stoop and power home a twisting header.
The second goal came from the same flank as Salah, teed up by Diaz, picked out Gakpo at the far post for the simplest of close-range volleyed finishes.
Tsimikas smashed a fierce drive against the crossbar and the overwhelming confidence of the hosts was exemplified by Gomez, who has never scored in eight years at the club, drilling a 25-yard shot just wide.
Much of the half appeared to revolve in getting Salah to his double century as the team tried to pick him out at every opportunity, whether he be menacingly poised on the shoulder of the last defender or inside the penalty area.
Two chances went begging when his angled shot turned into more of a cross but still evaded Gakpo before he fired tamely at the goalkeeper.
Six minutes into the second half Salah finally found the net but he owed it all to Gakpo.
The Netherlands international’s short through-ball to Diaz missed his intended target but the Dutchman was alert enough to chase his own pass and somehow get there before goalkeeper Tobias Lawal, who brought him down.
Lawal showed a similar lack of reaction in watching Salah tuck the penalty into the corner of the net without even attempting a dive.
That was enough to put the result beyond doubt but the feeling was there were more goals to be had as Gakpo hit the base of a post from outside the area, although the Dutchman eventually got a deserved second in added time.
The arrival of Darwin Nunez, and to a lesser extent Trent Alexander-Arnold and Curtis Jones, livened up proceedings, with the former putting in one of his now typical all-action hit-and-miss performances.
It erred more towards the latter as, after Harvey Elliott’s deflected shot was repelled by the goalkeeper’s legs as he dived the other way, the Uruguay international had one effort diverted wide and then shot straight at Lawal from eight yards.
Marin Ljubcic blazed over the visitors’ best chance with only Caoimhin Kelleher to beat and the Liverpool goalkeeper, set for his longest run in the side due to Alisson Becker being sidelined for a fortnight with a hamstring injury, did not have anything to do until the last 20 minutes.
When he was called upon he was not flustered, coming out to smother Ibrahim Mustapha, repelling Moses Usor’s shot and producing a reaction stop from LASK’s top scorer Robert Zulj, but even Sunday’s shot-shy visitors Fulham – scorers of only 13 goals in as many games – will provide a sterner test.
David Moyes urges West Ham to finish the job and top Group A
David Moyes wants West Ham to finish the job off and top their Europa League group.
Tomas Soucek struck late on yet again as the Hammers secured their passage into the knock-out stages with a 1-0 win against Backa Topola in Serbia.
Now they need to avoid defeat to Freiburg at the London Stadium in a fortnight to ensure they top Group A and avoid a two-legged play-off in February.
“We’re thrilled at West Ham that we’re going to play in Europe after Christmas time for the third season,” Hammers boss Moyes said at his post-match press conference.
“Even playing Freiburg in the last game to win the group is hugely important. But I’d have taken this at the start of the season, if you’d said we’ll finish second I’d have taken that.
“Freiburg are a good side and we are going to have to play well.”
Czech midfielder Soucek, who struck with an 89th-minute volley to settle a poor match, has now scored in his last five matches for club and country.
Soucek also hit the late goal which secured a 2-1 win at Burnley in the Premier League on Saturday.
“Tomas is in great form, not only for us but for his country as well,” added Moyes.
“Let’s continue. His first season he got 10 goals for us and it’s seven now so he has a chance to reach that figure again.
“We made a few changes, some with illness, we were always going to try some other players tonight to give them game time.”
“We scored two late goals on Saturday to beat Burnley and as a manager sometimes it’s good to win game late.”
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