Klopp praises Liverpool’s bravery but warns beating Ajax only ‘the first step’

Jürgen Klopp praised Liverpool’s show of character against Ajax but admitted the late victory was only “the first step” towards reigniting their Champions League campaign.

The Liverpool manager claimed his team’s performance was unrecognisable from the woeful defeat against Napoli last week, although they needed an 89th-minute header from Joël Matip to eventually overcome the Dutch champions at Anfield.

Mohamed Salah’s first goal in eight Champions League games gave Liverpool an early lead before Mohammed Kudus levelled for Ajax with a superb finish.

Asked what improvement he witnessed at Anfield, Klopp said: “A lot. I think if you put the two games, Napoli and tonight, next to each other you wouldn’t recognise that it is the same sport. It was all different. The start was different. The middle was different. The finish was different. The way we played, the way we defended, everything was different. Much higher intensity, much more aggression, braver, more ready, everything was better. It’s the first step, nothing else, not more.”

Klopp admitted Kudus’s goal, from Ajax’s first real chance of the game, was typical of the setbacks his team have suffered this season, but the reaction showed the strength of their character.

“It is the most important thing,” he added. “Nobody gets carried away tonight. It’s not like the boys are sat in the dressing room and cannot get their arms down. It’s more relief. We showed us and the outside world that we understood. The boys really reacted and I like that a lot, it was a super intense game. That’s how it is in life, when you have a problem and you want to sort it, you want to sort it immediately, put a bigger shift in and work harder again and you get everything immediately back. But