Klopp praises Coutinho after Foxes victory

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp praised playmaker Philippe Coutinho after a 3-2 victory at Leicester.

The Brazilian has missed much of the season with a back injury and had been distracted by three failed bids from Barcelona during the transfer window.

He gave Liverpool a 2-0 lead at Leicester on Saturday with a 25-yard free kick after setting up winger Mohamed Salah for the opener as the Reds ended a run of four games without a win.

Coutinho was making his first league start of the season and lasted 79 minutes before being substituted to a standing ovation from Liverpool fans.

Klopp said: I’m not blind, he was obviously good and that’s cool for us. 

"We think we did it right, we gave him 45 minutes [on Tuesday] so he could get a little bit more rhythm but it was not too intense. It was not too good for the game in midweek to take him off, to be honest.

"Today it was perfect and he can be happy about his performance and I am very happy about it."

Asked if he was close to playing a full 90 minutes, Klopp added: "In the last home game [against Burnley], I thought he could play 90 minutes but he got cramp on 80-something [minutes]. It should not be a problem. 

"Today we saw when [Demarai] Gray came on they had really wide wingers, so for our wingers it was then really important that they were still full of energy. 

"We could change really well. I really loved the impact of Millie [James Milner], Daniel [Sturridge] and Ox [Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain]. It was good and it’s all okay."

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