Klopp praises age-defying Salah after European record

Liverpool’s German manager Jurgen Klopp (R) speaks with Liverpool’s Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah (L) during the English Premier League football match (Photo by Oli SCARFF / AFP)

Jurgen Klopp says Mohamed Salah combines deep understanding of football with the body of a young man after the forward set a new European goalscoring record for a player for an English club.

The Egypt international came off the bench to score the final goal in Thursday’s 5-1 Europa League win over Toulouse, his 43rd goal in major European competitions for the club, surpassing Thierry Henry’s tally of 42 for Arsenal.

Klopp, whose side host Nottingham Forest on Sunday, is enjoying the spectacle of a maturing player with a more rounded game, yet one who still has the physical attributes to match anyone.

“Off the pitch he behaves like a grown-up man but besides that he’s still a young player,” Klopp said. “He’s so fit. I think if we scan him the majority of the bones are probably 19 or 20 (years old) because he just keeps in such good shape.

“(He has) game understanding. That’s what we try to give young players. They all know an awful lot about football when they finish their career at 35 but the earlier you can get this information the more useful it is.

“And with Mo he understands the spaces much better, he knows how players react on him and if he cannot score he can still be a threat for us and that’s super important…. I cannot compare Mo to other 30-odd-year-old players because I don’t think biologically he is.”

Salah, who has attracted strong interest from the cash-rich Saudi league, has already scored nine goals in all competitions in the 2023/24 season and is just five away from 200 in total since arriving at Liverpool in 2017.

Klopp described the