Jurgen Klopp hailed Mohamed Salah's will to never stop scoring after the Egyptian forward broke a 37-year club-record against Sparta Prague on Thursday night.
Salah, starting his first game since Newcastle on New Year's Day, netted Liverpool's third as the Reds equalled their biggest margin of victory over a two-legged tie in European football.
It was a landmark goal that saw the 31-year-old become the first Liverpool player to record 20 goals in seven successive seasons, eclipsing Ian Rush who reached that number in six consecutive campaigns.
Salah, primed to start against Manchester United on Sunday at Old Trafford, also claimed three assists against the Czech side.
"I’ve worked seven years together with him, so one problem we never had was consistency," Klopp said post-match. "Mo is just delivering and delivering and delivering, his desire doesn’t stop. His quality is anyway there, but then his desire to score just doesn’t stop. He improved in so many aspects since he started here.
"He will not stop. So, I’m less surprised than maybe some others, I thought it had already happened, to be honest, in this season but he was injured for a while and that’s why he couldn’t do it [earlier] otherwise it would have happened in January or February. So, great, very good and, as I said, great to have him back."
But Liverpool's star forward was not originally down to play the full 90 minutes. Instead, Bobby Clark was withdrawn in the 74th minute after sustaining a knock.
He added: "The stat is now not really surprising because he’s an outstanding player. Mo is a special story today because it was not the plan that he plays 90 minutes.
"Actually, the plan was to take him off in the moment when we brought Mateusz [Musialowski on] but then Bobby sat in front of me so it was clear we cannot do that now, that Bobby has to come off. But Mo is experienced enough that he recovered already during the game.
"I told him not to defend anymore – I don’t think I ever said that to a player. By the way, Mo, that’s different on Sunday!"
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'A real performance'
It was also a night to remember for Clark, Liverpool's intrepid midfielder.
The 19-year-old, making his first start in Europe, scored his first goal in senior football against Sparta and was relentless throughout. He also claimed an assist, won 80% of his duels and completed 100% of his dribbles.
And Klopp praised a 'top' performance from the youngster.
He said: "Bobby, it’s really nice to see the boys develop and flourish, to be honest. That was a top performance of Bobby. A real performance. Goal yes. But he set up whichever goal with winning the ball back up high, really high pressing situation – top, top, top.
"And then controlling a football game, with all the excitement inside that he definitely still has, is fantastic. He is the only one we worry a little bit [about injury-wise]; I hope it’s nothing but he sat there and said he felt something, so we had to take him off. Besides that, everybody else should be fine."
On the performance from the team, Klopp said: "Good game, entertaining. Obviously we all experienced different atmospheres at Anfield but I’m really happy for all of us, crowd included, that this was not as nerve-wracking as it usually is.
"Everybody can go home with a normal heart rate and that’s how it should be from time to time. It will not stay like this! Sunday already will be a different game and now we have three days to try to make sure we’re ready for that."