Jurgen Klopp reveals exact reason why ‘nobody was surprised’ Liverpool snatched late Ajax win

A late Joel Matip goal delivered Liverpool a 2-1 win over Ajax in the Champions League.
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Jurgen Klopp surveyed Liverpool’s late Champions League victory over Ajax and confessed: I’m not surprised the winning goal came from a set-piece.

The Reds bounced back to triumphant ways with a 2-1 defeat of the Dutch champions at Anfield.

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Liverpool suffered a horrendous 4-1 loss away to Napoli in their Group A opener.

But they bounced back to form - although they did it the hard way.

Mo Salah opened the scoring for the homeside but that was cancelled out by Mohammed Kudus.

And as it looked like the clash would end honours even, Joel Matip headed home an 89th-minute header to seal three points and sent Anfield into raptures.

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Liverpool created a total of 24 chances against Ajax, with Virgil van Dijk and Matip going close from dead-ball scenarios before the latter’s intervention.

And Klopp felt a goal from a set-piece was always going to arrive.

The Reds boss said: “I think the story of the game is kind of a bit typical - not for our season so far, because usually we are 1-0 down - but for the situation we are in. You do a lot of good stuff, we played a really good game. I don’t know the exact number but I think we had 25 finishes, I heard - which is good.

“Against a strong side, full-of-confidence side, absolutely convinced about the way they play. And we caused them a lot of problems. Our high press was good. The midfield press was good; could have been better in moments but was generally good. And then you concede, you are 1-0 up and you concede with the first chance of the opponent, the equaliser. So, that’s what I mean it’s typical, like a proper setback.

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“The reaction was OK, not perfect, but OK. But in half-time we told the boys that after the goal our pressing didn’t look as convinced anymore as before. In these moments you only talk about a few yards or one harder sprint.

“It’s not a big difference but it makes a big difference. That’s what we tried to do again in the second half and it was clear that we had to keep playing football because for Ajax it was really tough to defend us today, they had to work a lot. You saw it immediately after half-time, it was a bit more aggression from their side – little fouls, not harsh fouls but interruptions like this. That’s always a sign [of]: ‘OK, give us time’.

“But we did really well. We had these quick set-pieces, quick restarts with Thiago, stuff like this, where we tried to make an advantage in these moments. Sometimes you have to wait a bit longer.

“But that it was a set-piece, I think nobody was surprised because our set-pieces tonight were really good and I have no idea why we didn’t score earlier from them because pretty much each set-piece was a threat.

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“Great goal, then ball not in, then linesman raised his flag, which I really don’t know why; maybe he saw first that the goal was in or he has it as well in his watch. Then big celebrations and the face of Joel showed exactly how we all felt in that moment.”