"They will deal with it in the right way" - Jurgen Klopp has mixed emotions for Liverpool stars Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane after World Cup qualifier

Jurgen Klopp shares his feelings on Mane and Salah after this week's World Cup qualifier.
Jurgen Klopp shares his feelings on Mane and Salah after this week's World Cup qualifier.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has opened up on his feelings following Sadio Mane's Senegal qualifying for the FIFA World Cup at the expense of Mohamed Salah's Egypt.

Mane's side secured their place in the grandest tournament in world football, beating Egypt on penalties. The teams could not be separated over two legs that ended in a 1-1 aggregate draw.

However, Senegal got the better of Egypt in the penalty shootout for the second time this season. The Lions of Teranga previously defeated the Pharaohs in February to clinch their first-ever Africa Cup of Nations title.

Speaking ahead of Saturday's Premier League clash with Watford, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has stated that his two star forwards will deal with the situation in the right way. The German also slammed fans for targeting Salah with laser pens as he skied Egypt's first spot-kick in their penalty shoot-out.

Klopp said, as quoted by the official Liverpool FC website:

"I'm obviously really happy for Sadio that he could make it, and I'm obviously very disappointed for Mo. I don't think that the situation around the penalty and the laser was particularly cool, so I feel for him [Salah]. But I'm happy for Sadio as well, that's football."
"It's different when two mates are in such a big game, playing against each other. But they are both top professionals, very emotional people as well but I'm pretty sure they will deal with it in the right way."

Klopp insisted that Egypt should be proud of themselves as they took 'the best team in Africa' Senegal 'to the wire' twice. The Liverpool manager continued:

"There's no doubt about it, at the moment, Senegal are the best team in Africa, and Egypt did really well to take them twice to the wire, twice to a penalty shoot-out. Senegal have an extremely talented squad and Egypt did really well."
"I'm not sure they can see it like this exactly but from my point of view, they should. They got unlucky with the draw, against pretty much all other [African] teams, Egypt would have qualified for the World Cup."

Klopp has also urged his star forward Mohamed Salah to channel his disappointment 'to win everything he can' with Liverpool. Klopp added:

"There's no doubt about it, Mo wants to win everything he can. That's why he was very disappointed about the fact they couldn't win the [AFCON] tournament or qualify for the World Cup. That's different competitions, his desire will be bigger now, and he's a very smart person who sees the difference between all these things."
"We didn't speak about it in detail, to be honest, but he knows that Senegal are a tough team. Mo was unlucky in moments, especially with the penalty shoot-out, but nobody has to worry about him."

Liverpool will need Salah and Mane to perform in their chase of a quadruple

Liverpool have already won the League Cup and are in contention for the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League this season. No team in England has achieved a quadruple till date and Klopp will certainly have his sights set on becoming the first team to do so.

Salah and Mane will have to play a pivotal role in the next couple of months if the Merseysiders are to win an unprecedented quadruple.

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Edited by Ritwik Kumar
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