Jurgen Klopp breaks down Liverpool's 2-1 comeback victory against Brighton - 'We deserved to win'

Jurgen Klopp was delighted as Liverpool returned, at least temporarily, to the top of the Premier League table with a 2-1 victory over Brighton at Anfield on Sunday afternoon, but it was anything but straightforward.

Roberto De Zerbi's side took the early lead through Danny Welbeck, the former Arsenal forward seemingly doing his old club a favour when he thrashed in the opener after just 87 seconds.

Luis Diaz's clever run following a corner allowed him to flick home an equaliser in the 27th minute.

A pinpoint Dominik Szoboszlai pass from the wing found former Seagull Alexis Mac Allister with 25 minutes to play, and the Argentina international fed Mohamed Salah who could not miss from close range.

Speaking to BBC Match of the day after the contest, Klopp was asked for his thoughts on the comeback victory.

He said: "I would have loved to not be 1-0 down, I would love to have been four or five nil up but that's the best we played against De Zerbi's Brighton."

It was in fact the first victory for Klopp's side against Brighton since March 2022, and only their second in the last nine meetings between the two sides.

Klopp continued: "Playing wise it was really good, defending wise, yes always a struggle, but there's been games against Brighton we were never close - but this time we were calm. That is the first of the last 10, let's keep going."

Reflecting on the Salah goal, Klopp was full of praise for his team.

He said: "That is an unbelievable ball [from Szoboszlai]. It is the creativity and the quality, seeing that. He sees Macca, his first touch is incredible and then he sees Mo. How wasteful we were at all the other moments it was good we had this genius football moment to finish the game off."

Klopp continued: "Brighton have incredible quality. That is the measure I have for how good we were today because I really respect them. They had chances, they took more risks all of a sudden and we got slightly tired."

Ultimately, the German coach was pleased and felt his side had earned their victory.

He said: "We deserved to win the game. That is what you want and then on top of that it is really cool."

Turning his attention to the title race, Klopp admitted he planned to watch the Sunday afternoon clash between fellow contenders Arsenal and Manchester City.

He said: "We have a booth room and I will watch a bit of it because the traffic is now heavy to get out of the stadium."

Asked what result he wanted to see, Klopp was in a jovial mood.

He joked: "Both losing."

Continuing, he added: "We just have to win our games and see where we end up."

Speaking to LFCTV, Klopp was again complimentary of his team.

He said: "We were calm. I know that is new for us. You have to give yourself the chance. Then we scored an outstanding goal. Dom fired the ball in, Macca controlled with his first touch, his second touch he put it on a plate for Mo.

"As far as I know it was intense but nobody got hurt. Three points. We keep going."

Klopp finished his interview with LFCTV with a little story about Mac Allister's budding relationship with midfield partner Wataru Endo.

He said: "I went to the Kop after the game and I saw how Macca and Endo looked at each other in the eye. I could see the eye contact on how they looked at each other. Wow, you could make a 95-minute movie."

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