Klopp Leaps To Firmino’s Defence After Jota’s Atalanta Hattrick

The goals have dried up for Firmino recently, with the Brazilian international scoring just once in 11 appearances this season.

In contrast, summer signing Jota took his tally for the season to seven goals in 10 appearances with his treble against the Italians and there have already been calls for the Portuguese international to replace Firmino going forward.

Klopp however believes Firmino’s contribution to the Liverpool course should not be overlooked as the champions prepare to face Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday.

"Good performances never give me a headache. For tonight, that was the decision," Klopp said.

"It was clear that it made sense for tonight to use the good shape Diogo is in and because of the way of Atalanta plays and defends it made sense that the skillset of Diogo makes sense.

"But, it says nothing. The world is sometimes a really bad place that in the moment somebody's shining then we speak immediately about another player who played for us - it feels like - 500 games in a row.

"We would not be in the Champions League even if Bobby Firmino was not with us and immediately I have to explain why he is not in the team. He will be in the team.

"A lot of people in the world, if you would ask them what makes Liverpool special some days, they would say the way Firmino is playing. He is, on a good day, not to defend.

"For us it's important that we have more than 11 and tonight Diogo used his shape in an incredible way and played a super, super game but that says nothing about Bobby and it's nothing to do with headaches.

"I'm more than happy that the boys played like they played tonight."