Jarell Quansah will still be given consideration for Liverpool U21s games, but Jurgen Klopp had “no doubt” that he was ready to start in the Europa League.
Returning to the starting lineup for Liverpool’s Group E match against Union SG, Quansah shown maturity alongside Ibrahima Konate.
Ryan Gravenberch’s opener was followed by Diogo Jota’s goal to make it 2-0, and the 20-year-old was heavily involved the entire time, making several crucial stops in the closing minutes.
During Klopp’s post-game press conference, the manager expressed “no doubt” Quansah was prepared for his duel with pacy, physical threat striker Kevin Rodriguez.
“That is a component of growth.
“However, I had no doubts that he was prepared for that. It is all his fault. We had no trouble deciding to line him up tonight.
He’s still young, and since we have a pretty good football squad, he will play for the U21 team as well as gain playing time.
“However, it’s good to see. Since he is actually with us, it is a joy to observe his development.
“He’s a tremendously good football player; he excels on the ball.
“Mo had an opportunity in the first half, and he would have assisted. It was excellent defense, really quick thinking, and stepping in.
“He probably feels pretty good tonight,” I would say. Correctly so.
Only Alisson and Mohamed Salah remained in Klopp’s lineup after the 2-1 loss against Tottenham on Saturday. Klopp made nine changes to his team.
He was told that there isn’t much of a drop-off between his first-choice and rotated XIs, but he didn’t want to overstate his depth.
“I’ve said it before, always when you speak about these kinds of things, a week later we miss five players,” he remarked.
“This time, we chatted so frequently, and everyone praised the presence of five strikers and a talent in Ben Doak.
We have three for the weekend, but one (Cody Gakpo) will be off for a bit and the other (Jota), OK, will return [afterwards].
