KEY POINTS

  • Reds beat Slovenia champions 7-0 to breathe in biggest away European win.
  • Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino both score twice.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp may have watched his side plunder seven goals past Maribor in a record-breaking European away win to put their Champions League campaign back on track - but he was more impressed by the return of his 'gegenpressing' system which has defined his managerial career.

The Reds ended a three-game run and recorded their first group stage win of the season by claiming their biggest away win in continental competition. Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah both scored twice, with Philippe Coutinho, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Trent Alexander-Arnold firing home to cap the remarkable win.

Despite the seven goals which saw Liverpool improve on a run of two in their last three games, Klopp was particularly impressed by his side's pressing game which defined their victory in Slovenia.

"[Scoring seven] is really not important tonight," he told BT Sport. "With the result of the other game it is a really close, tight group. You need goals, you need results and so we set a pace with the first two performances. Today we played confidently. You struggle in a game like this. Its sounds strange but if you're not 100% with your attitude.

"It was very mature, very good. Seven goals is wonderful, but the counter-pressing I was close to celebrating the counter-pressing situation more than the goals. We were really in the right situations on the pitch, causing them problems and we're a really good football team and they couldn't cope with us tonight."

The ex-Borussia Dortmund boss added: "Our attitude was really outstanding, that is what I expected from the first second. Our counter-pressing was the best I saw for a long time. It is very important that we got it back. There are things we wanted from ourselves.

"We scored some wonderful goals, played some wonderful football and in the end it seemed that Maribor were not good but it was difficult against us today. I love the fact that we really stayed concentrated in the second half, did again really well. We scored more but that is not important. We controlled the game, it was very much a good performance."

Oxlade-Chamberlain came off the bench to score Liverpool's sixth - his first since his deadline day move from Arsenal to Anfield - though the England international remains without a start in the Premier League or Champions League for his new club.

But Klopp admitted that Oxlade-Chamberlain is among a handful of players close to a first team start. Liverpool travel to Wembley to face Tottenham Hotspur this weekend when they hope to improve on a run of one win in their last five league outings.

"They're all close," Klopp stated. "Marko Grujic and [Andrew] Robertson are not in the squad tonight. That is good. I know it is not easy to see the good things when the results are not how you want to have them. We were not always good enough to see the good things but we have to carry on. we have to improve things for sure but we have a lot of things working well."

Jurgen Klopp
Klopp was left delighted by Liverpool's commitment in Slovenia. Getty Images