Naby Keita has now been able to string together a few good appearances in a Liverpool shirt, after bagging in the Premier League and now the Champions League.
The goal in Europe is extremely valuable to the Reds, as it broke the deadlock against a tricky Red Bull Salzburg side that looked like they were going to cause us problems.
We’ve been hoping this version of Keita would come to the surface eventually – he had shown flashes of brilliance in the past, but injuries had stopped the midfielder from really flourishing.
Nobody summed up the relief from Reds supporters better than Telegraph journalist Chris Bascombe. He said that we’ve been “expecting” this from Keita for some time.
Welcome to Liverpool, Naby Keita. We've been expecting this for a while!!!! Exceptional in a high pressure game like this.
— Chris Bascombe (@_ChrisBascombe) December 10, 2019
The target for Keita now will be to string together as many positive performances as possible. He’s got a lot of competition for a spot in Jurgen Klopp’s midfield.
With Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Gini Wijnaldum and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all more than capable of taking a spot, the Guinean will need to continue shining to make sure he’s irreplaceable.
For the boss, it’s a nice problem to have – having too many talented players and not enough positions is definitely preferable to being a one man team!