Klopp: Our dreams were fulfilled on Anfield return

Jurgen Klopp claimed all of Liverpool’s dreams were fulfilled after defeating Burnley 2-0 in front of a capacity crowd at Anfield on Saturday.

Goals either side of half-time from Diogo Jota and Sadio Mane secured a routine three points for the Reds, with Mohamed Salah also seeing a goal ruled out for offside prior to the break.

The win represented Liverpool’s ninth successive victory in their opening top-flight game at home. They have triumphed in each of their past seven Premier League outings too, as many victories as they enjoyed in their previous 20 fixtures in the competition.

Defeating Burnley also provided a little payback, given Sean Dyche’s side had ended Klopp’s 68-game unbeaten run at Anfield last term.

The Liverpool boss insisted the game lived up to expectations, considering the long wait to perform again on home turf in front of a full house.

“We were all looking forward to this,” Klopp told reporters after the match. “A football-fest.

“Nobody left today with any disappointment. All our dreams were fulfilled today, atmosphere-wise – the best we’ve had, it was pretty special.”

While Klopp was not overly impressed with some of Burnley’s challenges, he found greater reason to question the officiating, which he feels could be a problem throughout the season.

“I love football and all these challenges, but we came from protecting the players more to letting the game flow and now there is a grey area,” Klopp continued.

“It doesn’t sound like letting the game run makes too much sense. It was a proper test today, we passed it.

“I am not the Pope of football or whatever to tell people what to do, it’s just elbows in challenges – we went through all these things.

“We cannot forget to protect the players as well. It’s common sense.”

Post Views: 170