Liverpool superstar Mohamed Salah felt that the Reds’ players were not protected from Monterrey’s “very aggressive” tactics in the 2-1 Club World Cup semi-final victory on Wednesday.
Jurgen Klopp’s team advanced to the Club World Cup final in Doha following a win over the Mexican outfit Monterrey as substitute Roberto Firmino netted a 91st-minute winner to set up a final against Brazilian side Flamengo.
Liverpool had taken the lead through Guinea midfielder Naby Keita, but a team that was missing influential Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk through illness were pegged back by Rogelio Funes Mori and the Champions League winners required their in-form goalkeeper Alisson Becker to keep them on level terms on many occasions
However, Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah felt that the Reds were good value for their win, although the 28-year-old was unhappy with Chilean referee Roberto Tobar’s handling of the game and Monterrey’s tactics which seemed to stop Liverpool from playing their free-flowing football.
The South American team had Jesus Gallardo and Leonel Vangioni booked for yellow cards against Liverpool’s one caution, but incidentally, Klopp’s side committed 13 fouls in comparison to their opponents’ nine.
Speaking to news reporters after the game, Salah admitted that the referees should protect players a bit more in games with such intensity as the opposition keeps committing hard tackles, “I think it was a tough game, they were very aggressive against us and all of us were complaining about our legs and they were really aggressive. I think the referee doesn’t protect us too much. But I’m not here to complain about it. I think in the end we showed our quality and we won in the last minute. I think we deserved it.
