Jurgen Klopp hails Liverpool keeper Alisson Becker’s ‘life-saver’ stop to deny Napoli’s Arkadiusz Milik

Jurgen Klopp hailed Allison Becker’s memorable stoppage-time save from Arkadiusz Milik as a “life-saver” after it kept Liverpool in the Champions League.

During added time at the end of the second half Allison charged out to block from Napoli substitute Milik, to keep the score 1-0 to Liverpool. If Milik had scored, levelling the game at 1-1, then Liverpool would have needed an implausible two more goals in just two minutes of added time to progress.

That save, then, was the difference between Liverpool playing Europa League and Champions League football from February 2019, and that in itself justifies the £67m fee that Liverpool paid Roma for Allison back in July. Klopp was full of praise for Allison afterwards, though he was also clear that Liverpool’s win owed more than just to Allison’s save, and that Allison himself did more than just that specific moment.

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“The save Allison made, I have no words for that, that was of course a life-saver, I am really proud,” Klopp said. “There are lot of things he can do. Calm with the ball, helping with our build-up situation, outstanding on crosses. And that save was just incredible.”

Klopp pointed out that the defensive effort was more than just Allison, but again was full of praise for that crucial late stop from Milik. “How the boys worked together, if we do not defend the whole pitch, Ali cannot make 20 saves like the last one. It was incredible, unbelievable, I have never seen something similar. But we still need the other boys around.”

Klopp was also full of praise for how Liverpool played much better tonight than they did in the 1-0 defeat in Naples on 3 October. “Everything changed, everything changed,” Klopp said, when asked to compare tonight to October. “The only good thing [to come from that defeat] was that Napoli could not have an idea who are really were. That was not us in Napoli, it was somebody else. We could have made a six hour meeting of that game, but we decided to ignore it. We gave the boys an opportunity to do better in the next game. It was a tough game, we did everything we had to. The boys played an outstanding game.”

Asked whether he wanted “revenge” on Real Madrid for their Champions League final win in May, Klopp said he did not mind. “The only thing I know is that a lot of fans would like revenge against PSG,” he said. “We have no say in that. In the end, I don’t care, we are second in the group, we will have an outstanding strong opponent, that’s it.”