"There's no story" - Jurgen Klopp on Mohamed Salah not starting against Benfica

Jurgen Klopp has talked about not starting Mohamed Salah in yesterday's game against Benfica.

Salah did not start against the Portuguese outfit in the second leg of the Champions League quarter-finals last night and in his pre-Manchester City press conference, as cited by Anfield Watch's Twitter account, Klopp said that resting him was a 'necessity'.

"The reason for Mo not starting is easy. We have 12 games hopefully left, when we have the opportunity to change, we want to change. Even if he had scored 4 goals against City, he would not have started last night," said Klopp.

"There's no story, it is just a necessity. Even he is just a human being and there'll be games where he can't start or is taken off and he hates that - that's clear!"

Klopp also spoke about if the current workload is affecting Mohamed Salah, as cited by Anfield Watch's Twitter account.

"It's just logical. If you sleep 4 nights in the week for only 2 hours a night, it's natural you will feel it on the 5th night. I have to make decisions. Just make it - deal with it, right or wrong."

Anfield Watch Verdict

With Salah not starting yesterday's game against Benfica, I think it's 99% guaranteed that he starts against Manchester City at Wembley on Saturday.

The Egyptian looked really good in the second half of Liverpool's Premier League clash against City last Sunday and he got an assist for the Reds' equaliser to top off a decent display.

The main worry about Mo is the fact that he seems to have lost his finishing. He's still getting in great positions but he just can't put the ball in the back of the net.

Since returning from AFCON, Salah has five goals in the Premier League but only two of them have been from open play, with the other three being penalties.

Hopefully, he can be back to his best on Saturday and help Liverpool reach another final this season.