Ralph Hasenhuttl pays Liverpool ultimate compliment as he singles out one player for praise

Southampton boss Ralph Hasenhuttl marvelled at Liverpool's strength in depth after the Premier League title race was taken down to the final day.

Jurgen Klopp's risky move to make nine changes to his Reds side that won the FA Cup against Chelsea on penalties paid off.

Nothing but a victory at St Mary's would have been good enough for Liverpool as they looked to move within a point of leaders Manchester City ahead of the last set of fixtures on Sunday.

And Klopp's men battled from behind to deliver a 2-1 win courtesy of goals from Takumi Minamino and Joel Matip.

Hasenhuttl expected Liverpool to make the switches he did - and would have done similar given the quality available.

What’s been said

The Southampton chief said: "Absolutely. I would have done the same.

“They are convinced about these players who were on the pitch and it was still a team with a lot of quality.

“They have played this team very often and they came to the FA Cup final with this team."

Minamino praise

Minamino spent the second half of last season on loan at Southampton in a bid for more regular first-team minutes.

The Japan international has been a bit-part player during Liverpool's Premier League title challenge, having frequently been omitted from match-day squads.

However, he proved his worth by rifling home the Reds’ equaliser which cancelled out Nathan Redmond’s opener.

Hasenhuttl felt Minamino put in a good shift.

He added: “We concede the first goal in a way where we are all behind the ball and cannot stop Taki from scoring, he played it quite well and you could see he was quite strong in this area.

“Second half, we sometimes tried to surprise them with the 4-2-2-2 and pressing higher. Liverpool did it well going through the lines and then you go deeper again, and you try to keep the game alive as long as possible.

“Then the second goal when we try to clear it on the first post, and this is the only real frustrating thing to concede a goal like this.

“And then we still try to balance the risk that you take, because you know you are still in the game only one goal down. You know a moment will come, especially in the last few minutes.”