Liverpool left Austria on Thursday with a victory in the inaugural match of the Europa League group stage. As is their want this season, the Reds had to climb their way out of a 1-0 deficit to eventually win 3-1.
Liverpool fell behind in the 14th minute and played a dismal first half of football. In the second half they came back with a vengeance. Luis Díaz lead the charge, forcing the penalty which Darwin Núńez converted in the 56th minute to level the game. Then a few minutes later, he got the winner. Mohamed Salah then put the game away in the 89th minute.
After the match, manager Jürgen Klopp said, “We showed two football situations from the first half where we did really well. I’m pretty sure the boys would have thought there was nothing good in the first half, but that’s not true; we had good moments and that’s what we showed and besides that I told them we had to get rid of the frustration and start getting back into the game again and we have a good chance to turn it around.
“And that’s what we did. And I’m really happy because I knew it would be difficult, it was difficult. We won it, well deserved, that’s it.”
The victory was a milestone for Klopp as well. This marked his 50th European victory with the club, a feat unmatched by any other Liverpool manager. In typical Klopp fashion, he played it off with a joke.
“Let me say it like this, if I have still 50 after the group stage then I’m still the most successful Liverpool manager [in this regard] and everybody will hate the fact!” he said.
Now the team has to get back from Austria and get ready for their game against West Ham United on Sunday.
