Football News

Jurgen Klopp convinced Leicester will play European football next season

By Mohamed Moallim

Published: 14:24, 6 October 2019

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is confident Leicester City will be playing European football next season after his side’s hard-fought 2-1 win at Anfield.

The Reds left it very late to maintain their 100% start in this season’s Premier League, with James Milner converting a stoppage time penalty.

Perfect eight: Five key things to know…

  • Liverpool are the only Premier League side with a perfect 100% record this season.
  • Their 2-1 victory over Leicester was an eighth win on the bounce since the start of the 2019/20 campaign.
  • It also extended their current league winning streak to 17 matches.
  • The current Premier League record is 18 set by Manchester City.
  • A win at Old Trafford after the international break will see Klopp’s men equal that feat.

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Sadio Mane gave the hosts a 40th-minute lead, which seemed to be enough for all three points, but James Maddison equalised with 10 minutes remaining. However, that wasn’t the end of the drama.

With the full-time whistle imminent, Mane earned Klopp’s men a spot kick after he was dragged down by Marc Albrighton; allowing the ever-reliable Milner to step up and ensure the spoils were not shared.

It was yet another tough win for the league leaders, which Klopp very much admitted in his post-match conference.

The German is adamant a point against the Foxes would not have been a bad result given that he expects them to reclaim a place in Europe next term, suggesting a top-six finish may well be on the cards.

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“Everyone will feel it in the season that if you get a point against Leicester it will be a success for 95 per cent of all the teams,” he told Liverpool’s official website.

“So in a difficult week like we had with a very intense game on Wednesday and a really strong opponent, Leicester City obviously doesn’t have to play [in midweek] – not yet, next year they will.”

An emotional match

For the aforementioned Mane it was a landmark occasion. His opening goal was his 50th for the Reds on Premier League appearance number 100.

Before the game Mane spoke of the dangers posed by Leicester and his comments were vindicated as Brendan Rodgers’ men asked some stern questions of Klopp’s side.

“It’s not easy because Leicester is a very, very good team and caused us many problems. They equalised the game and that’s why in football you never give up, that’s what we try to do as a team,” he said.

“At the end of the game, we got a penalty. To be honest, we just have to say we deserved to win this game.”