Liverpool boss admits Reds ‘didn’t deliver’ as Mo Salah gives no excuses for missing top four

Writing on social media after Manchester United's win over Chelsea consigned Liverpool to Europa League football, Salah said he was "devastated" and there was "absolutely no excuse" for not making the top four.

I'm totally devastated," Salah said on Twitter. "There's absolutely no excuse for this. We had everything we needed to make it to next year's Champions League and we failed.

"We are Liverpool and qualifying to the competition is the bare minimum. I am sorry but it's too soon for an uplifting or optimistic post. We let you and ourselves down."

However, his manager defended his post-match rant. "It was a just a normal description of his situation, of his feeling, and in that moment directly after the game he's right, it's not the moment to immediately send optimistic messages," said Klopp.

"But I saw him now in the canteen and he was smiling. I don't know for which reason as I didn't ask him, but he is not in a bad mood. That's it.

"We didn't deliver what everybody wanted or expected but we are still really united, that's the good thing about it.

"The dressing room is not in a bad mood. We have learned to deal with the situation. We didn't get divided in one moment between manager and team, which is super helpful.

"We didn't point fingers at each other. That's all good. If you don't qualify for the Champions League, the best place you can possibly end up is fifth, so that's what we did."