The Reds recovered from throwing away a three-goal lead against Salzburg as Mohamed Salah’s 69th-minute strike earned the Champions League titleholders a chaotic victory on Wednesday.
Trailing 3-0 after 36 minutes following strikes by Sadio Mane, Andrew Robertson and Salah, Salzburg stunned the Premier League leaders by scoring three unanswered goals in 21 wild minutes either side of half-time.
Salah regained the lead for the hosts by running onto Roberto Firmino’s flicked header and cushioning a left-foot shot into the net, and Klopp’s men held firm to collect their first points in Group E after opening up with a 2-0 loss at Napoli.
Klopp said: “The first 30 minutes was some of the best football we played so far, I would say, against a very good organised team with a clear identity. We did everything that they don’t like on high speed, scored the three goals, could have scored more.
“They changed the system – that’s allowed and not really a problem usually but tonight it was for us. We changed, for some reason, the approach. Some were in a controlling mood, some were in an attacking mood, and other positions were too hectic.
“The other problem was that we tried to finish our situations off through the middle of the park. They had one midfielder less in the defence because they took a little bit more risk, left a No.10 between the lines, and we still tried to push through the centre.
“[We] lost the balls there, they passed the ball to the 10 and he could turn at the back of Fabinho: counter-attack. That changed the momentum of the game.”
“It was a very important lesson for us tonight but I prefer massively to learn it in the game than after the game because, if we lost 4-3, it would have been the same lesson.
“Now we won 4-3 so three points and a lot to learn from so, I’m fine. I knew before that we have to improve a lot but now everybody knows it probably.”
