'He is outstanding' - Klopp piles praise on Kelleher

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp piled more praise on the "outstanding" Caoimhin Kelleher after the Corkman shone for the Premier League leaders at Brentford on Saturday.

Kelleher - deputising for the injured Alisson Becker - delivered the type of assured performance Reds fans have been accustomed to.

In Alisson's contiued absence, he will start Wednesday's home game against Luton Town and has also been guaranteed he'll be between the posts for the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea this Sunday.

"He was outstanding," Klopp said of the 25-year-old. "I don't know exactly, to be honest, who is the number one [goalkeeper] in Ireland but if they have a better goalkeeper than him I have to say, 'respect'.

"He's outstanding and this year we gave him more games than he had previously. It's well deserved because we need him, and we need him with rhythm and now the situation around Ali shows that it makes absolutely sense.

"We will see how long Ali is out, but Caoimhin is exceptional. Today he was... wow! It was an A-plus performance."

Kelleher only has 11 Republic of Ireland caps to his name despite being halfway through his 20s. He's been in a lengthy battle with Southampton stopper Gavin Bazunu for the No 1 shirt, perhaps paying the price for playing second fiddle to Alisson at Liverpool.

Not that Klopp has any worries about his ability to step up to the plate.

"Caoimhin had already enough games this year to have kind of rhythm," he said.

"Goalkeepers are [a] different breed to other people, so it was not in my plans to play [him] in Luton or whatever.

"How I said, we play the game we play with all focus and all attention and don't think about other things. It might be not the smartest way. It's just the only way I know."

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