Diaz scored the third goal for Liverpool after a wonderful goal by Salah
Luis Diaz may be 149 goals behind Egyptian star Mohamed Salah in the Liverpool shirt, but coach Jurgen Klopp hopes for a strong career for the Colombian, who recently joined the English team.
Diaz, who moved from Porto in January, scored his first goal for Liverpool, who beat Norwich 3-1 on Saturday.
The goal came in the wake of two goals by Sadio Mane and Salah, who scored 150 goals in 236 matches with the “Reds”.
Praising Salah, Klopp said, “No one expected when he scored the first goal at Watford, that he could score 149 more in a short period of time.”
“I hope Lewis uses his first goal in the same way,” he added.
Fantastic walk
Salah has won the Premier League, Champions League and Club World Cup since joining Liverpool in 2017. His style of play has helped him win individual titles, and he has benefited from a solid reputation, even placing a statue of him in Madame Tussauds.
Klopp added that Salah is “fantastic”, and he is one of only 10 players who have reached 150 goals with Liverpool.
“He played a great game,” he said. “In the first half I said ‘don’t rush it’. The first touch was crazy. It was a perfect match to score the 150th goal.”
Diaz has a lot to do with Liverpool, but Klopp paid tribute to the 25-year-old.
The German coach said: “The first half was not easy for the offensive players, as we played a new squad.”
“The first goal for everyone is a very important goal. In the second half, he (Diaz) was 100 percent in the game to take advantage of the moments of rebound pressure, he did good things with the ball and scored a great goal, so I’m really happy for him.”
picture released, Getty Images
Henderson assisted Luis Diaz to score Liverpool’s third goal
Diaz scored, taking advantage of Henderson’s superb pass. The Liverpool captain described the new player as “fantastic” since joining, noting that “his shots are really good.”
“Tough Moments”
Liverpool have reached 100 goals in 39 games in all competitions this season, and have improved significantly compared to last season, when they scored 97 goals in 53 games.
The Reds’ victory over Norwich was their eighth in a row in all competitions, which was followed by a victory over Inter Milan in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 on Wednesday.
Klopp, who rested Trent Alexander-Arnold on Saturday, confirmed that a muscle injury would keep Roberto Firmino off the field “for some time”, while striker Diogo Jota could return to next week’s League Cup final against Chelsea at Wembley.
“We have to keep the players fit and create a spirit, as they did in the (Norwich) match,” the German coach added.
“We had difficult moments and then the game looked completely different. But these guys didn’t give up – we could have helped off the bench, put in really good players and that was, as it was three days ago, a game-changer.”