Jurgen Klopp praised the desire of his Liverpool players after they weathered a “strange” Bournemouth storm to book their place in the League Cup quarter-finals.
Substitute Darwin Nunez struck a memorable winner 20 minutes from time as the Reds earned a 2-1 fourth round triumph at the Vitality Stadium on Wednesday evening.
Cody Gakpo had put Liverpool ahead in the first half only for Bournemouth to capitalise on the extremely windy conditions when Justin Kluivert headed in from a corner shortly after the hour.
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The visitors were put under periods of severe pressure in the second half with the home side having the wind in their favour.
And Klopp was delighted with how his players stood firm to set up a tie at home to West Ham United next month.
“It was a top, top, top cup game,” said the Liverpool boss. “It’s all about winning, it’s all about getting through. I don’t need to talk about the circumstances because everyone saw it and felt it.
“It was really difficult for both teams. In the first half we could have scored more goals but didn’t. In the second half we realised it would have been a good idea to score more goals (in the first half) because the wind changed the game again.
“We scored our second goal, a wonderful goal, and then we fought extremely hard. It’s all about attitude in these moments. Both teams obviously wanted it but I saw how hard my team really wanted it and I was really happy about it. A top cup game in strange circumstances.”
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