Jurgen Klopp giving a skip to witness Mohamed Salah take a penalty against Arsenal on Sunday led the Liverpool boss to becoming uncertain as to whether the forward had scored or not. As the Reds rallied to clinch a 2-2 draw at Anfield, Arsenal’s hopes of winning the Premier League championship for the first time since 2004 took a hit.
Before Gabriel Jesus doubled the advantage with a perfectly timed header, Gabriel Martinelli handed the visitors an early lead. A thrilling and closely contested second period was set up when Mohamed Salah scored a goal just before halftime to turn around a disastrous first half for Liverpool.
Klopp ‘celebrates’ Mohamed Salah’s penalty before going blank to know his forward had missed
Roberto Firmino’s late goal put things at level for Liverpool. However, the Brazilian’s goal would have winner had Mohamed Salah buried in a penalty before the hour-mark. When Rob Holding tripped Diogo Jota inside the penalty area earlier in the 54th minute, the Reds were awarded a penalty by Paul Tierney.
As usual, Mohamed Salah moved up to take the penalty kick, but his low attempt missed Aaron Ramsdale’s right post. Historically and statistically reliable from 12 yards out, the Egyptian attacker has now missed his previous two penalties. At Anfield, tensions and feelings were already high after a testy first 45 minutes that appeared to finish with the linesman elbowing Andrew Robertson in the face.
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp was as immersed in it as ever, to the point where he couldn’t bring himself to watch Salah’s penalty. After the Egyptian took the kick, the German coach turned his back on the pitch before celebrating. However, the only twist was that Mohamed Salah missed.
Klopp reaction to salah penalty miss
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Klopp looked very bewildered when he realised that his team was still down 2-1 after mistaking the travelling Arsenal fans’ chants for those of the home crowd. The German was in a stupor for a little while before he realised what had happened and started motivating his team from the sidelines. However, Klopp did admit his confusing reaction, explaining after the game:
“I only saw the penalty after the game. A few people in the crowd reacted, so when you don’t see the penalty, you react on what the people see and a few people obviously thought the ball was in but it wasn’t. He missed the goal. So that’s why for a second the fist, and then I realised, ‘Oh, Mo isn’t celebrating.’ And then I realised the ball wasn’t it. That’s it.”
Mohamed Salah has now missed back-to-back penalties for the Reds, after he missed one during last month’s loss to Bournemouth. That is one too many for team struggling in eighth in the table and struggling to qualify for the Champions League. When asked if he could decide to relieve Salah of his penalty duties, Klopp looked hesitant to go into great detail but replied: “That’s something we will talk about but not here.”
Despite having played one game more than Manchester City, the result puts Arsenal six points clear at the top of the Premier League standings. However, City can now go within three points of their title challengers and even diminish it when they face the Gunners at the Etihad later this month. With eight games remaining for Arsenal in the season, they now stare at a do-or-die scenario if they are to lift their maiden title since 2004.