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Jurgen Klopp raves about ‘exceptional’ Liverpool player after Ajax win
Jurgen Klopp has heaped praise on young goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher after his heroics helped Liverpool reach the knockout stages of the Champions League with a 1-0 win over Ajax
The exciting talent was a surprise name on the team-sheet last night with the Irishman preferred to Adrian in the absence of the injured Alisson.
Klopp’s big decision paid dividends though. He made two big saves to preserve Liverpool’s advantage and edge them through to the next phase of the competition.
Kelleher had only appeared in domestic cup competitions prior to last night. With Alisson set to be out for a couple of weeks, Kelleher could now be in line for a Premier League debut.
Klopp isn’t averse to playing the club’s academy talents and another, Curtis Jones, scored his team’s winning goal at Anfield last night.
Following the game, the title-winning boss could hide his delight with his 19-year-old goalkeeper.
“Top. Top, top, top. It’s a situation which I have to say, it was easy to decide on Caoimhin because he just deserves it.
“We needed the package of Caoimhin – and he is a top talent anyway, but a really good shot-stopper and a top football. I like that.
“We needed that for the pressing of Ajax, we needed his chips from him into the half-spaces and these kinds of things. That was really good but in the end, it’s about saving, keeping the ball out of the net, and he did that at least twice in an exceptional manner.
TBR View – Opportunity knocks for Kelleher
Adrian has been guilty of dropping some clangers during his time at Liverpool and that has clearly helped Kelleher.
With Alisson injured the gloves are now in his possession and he won’t fancy losing them any time soon.
His two saves in the second half last night were unbelievable and surely Klopp has to pick him when Liverpool play Wolves on Sunday.
At 22, there is no reason why Kelleher can’t be competing with Alisson for the gloves.
The Ajax performance must act as motivation for the Cork-born custodian to push Adrian down the pecking order.