'He hates that! Jurgen Klopp explains decision to rest Mohamed Salah vs Benfica

Jurgen Klopp insists he was vindicated in his decision to bench Mohamed Salah against Benfica last night, even if he risked irking his star forward.

The Egypt international has enjoyed another stellar season with his goals firing Liverpool towards and unprecedented quadruple.

Salah’s form, however, has take a noticeable dip in recent weeks and he has scored only once, a penalty against Brighton, in his last 11 appearances for club and country.

With Liverpool already 3-1 up from the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final, Klopp opted to take Salah out of the firing line last night and handed him a break ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City.

The Reds uncharacteristically let a two-goal lead on the night slip at Anfield but still progressed serenely enough 6-4 on aggregate and the intensity of the match justified the decision to give Salah a breather, according to Klopp.

‘The reason for Mo not starting is easy. We play City but after that we hopefully have 12 games,’ said Klopp, who did introduce Salah as a substitute midway through the second half.

‘We have the opportunity to change. Even if Mo would have scored four goals in the last game he wouldn’t have started yesterday.

‘Nothing to do with anything. It’s just a necessity, Mo played in January and February six times 120 minutes so now we can just close our guys and say who cares?

‘Even he is just a human being and it is clear there will be games where he cannot start and games where we take him off.

‘He hates that and that’s clear. People might think what am I doing the whole day but it’s to think about these kind of thing when these things are really necessary.

‘I think the game proved it was 100% correct decision. In general the