Liverpool beat Rubin Kazan 1-0 in the Europa League on Thursday night thanks to Jordon Ibe’s first ever Liverpool goal and the win now puts them in a strong position to qualify from their group.
The win was Liverpool’s first in the Europa League in almost three years and although the game wasn’t a classic it was another important win as Klopp’s influence is bringing a new confidence to this Liverpool squad and a momentum with 3 wins in the last 9 days.
Liverpool dominated the game in Russia as the hosts defended in numbers and tried to frustrate Liverpool in the hope of keeping a clean sheet and stealing a goal on the break.
Liverpool dominated possession and they should have won by more goals but Ibe’s goal proved to be enough to take a vital three points from Russia and now a win over Bordeaux in Liverpool’s next Europa League match at Anfield will be enough to take them through to the next stage of the competition.
Klopp has his team pressing high up the park and hunting to get the ball back quickly when not in possession but the confidence when in possession is starting to come as Liverpool confidently knocked the ball around in Russia.
Liverpool’s passing and possession was all the more impressive because of the poor surface they had to play on.
Jordon Ibe will take most of the plaudits for this win and his performance and rightly so because he was a constant threat down the right flank all night and his goal capped a fine evening for the youngster who has found a new confidence working under Klopp and his performance could see him push for a regular starting place in Klopp’s side, especially with Ibe being the only natural winger in the squad.
With little time to recover, Liverpool must prepare for a tough Premier League fixture at home to Crystal Palace on Sunday and Klopp will be hoping for more improvement that is growing game by game.