Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum said that manager Jurgen Klopp tried to encourage his players to put the loss of forward Mohamed Salah behind them during Saturday’s Champions League final against Real Madrid.
Salah was forced off in the first-half with a shoulder injury after he was pulled down by Madrid captain Sergio Ramos and Wijnaldum admitted after the match that his departure affected the Reds performance.
“I think it was a big blow for us, it seemed like a big blow for us the way the way we reacted after his injury,” said Wijnaldum.
“I think when he was on the pitch we did it well for 25 minutes but (after the injury) there was less than before.
“Those things happen and we had to deal with it but it was difficult.”
Salah has been Liverpool’s top scorer this season and entered Saturday’s final with 44 goals in 51 games, which, naturally, made him a key player for Madrid to watch for during the game.
The Egyptian was voted the PFA Players’ Player of the Year, the Football Writers’ Association Footballer of the Year and the Premier League Player of the Season and Wijnaldum said that the players were quite downtrodden at half-time about his injury enforced departure but that Klopp instructed them to try and move on in the second-half.
“He said that it looked like we were devastated about Mo but we had to let it go and change because it could not change,” Wijnaldum said of Klopp’s half-time talk.
“Sometimes those things happen in football. It is hugely frustrating but we can’t change it.”
Ramos reached out to Salah on Twitter to offer his condolences and insisted that above all else both players are fellow professionals.
El fútbol te enseña la cara más dulce a veces y la más amarga otras. Ante todo somos compañeros. Pronta recuperación, Salah. El futuro te espera.||Sometimes football shows you it's good side and other times the bad. Above all, we are fellow pros. #GetWellSoon @MoSalah
— Sergio Ramos (@SergioRamos) May 27, 2018
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