Jürgen Klopp was left satisfied by Liverpool ‘taking a step in the right direction’ in beating Lyon 3-1 in their final pre-season friendly on Wednesday.

The Reds put in an impressive display at Stade de Geneve that ensured they got back to winning ways ahead of Sunday’s Community Shield meeting with Manchester City at Wembley.

An unerring finish by the returning Roberto Firmino and a long-range screamer from Harry Wilson sandwiched Joachim Andersen’s own goal as Klopp’s team stormed back after conceding an early Memphis Depay penalty.

Read on for a summary of the boss’ post-match press conference...

LFCTV GO: Liverpool 3-1 Lyon in 90 seconds

On his feeling of satisfaction after the game…

I said it and it’s clear: we will become fresher and fresher and things will happen for us again, but you have to go through this intense period and we are not through. Today was a good sign, finishing the pre-season on a high is obviously important for all of us. Lyon is a really, really good team and we didn’t let that happen really today with the speed they have up front with Depay, Traore and Dembele, especially in the first half. That’s just good. We conceded an interesting goal with the penalty, that’s how it is [and] you can see in these situations that all the boys need to adapt to it again. It was only three weeks but now Ali is two days in training like Mo, like Bobby, like Naby and like Shaq, so that means they need just a bit of time but you see the natural quality of them as well and that helps us of course. All round it was a much better performance, but again, I said that will happen. Now we have three more days to prepare for the City game and then we will see what we can do there.

On whether he was surprised at how ready the returning players looked…

No, not really. I think Mo is naturally fit and he can sprint all day, which helps us of course. It opens up the pitch, you can play much more football – not always between the lines, if you from time to time chip the ball in behind the line then Mo makes these offers which is very important for us. Bobby in between the lines and in the box, present, really important. Harry did a really good job in the first half and scored a wonderful goal, a Harry Wilson special, that was really cool. There were a lot of good performances. The last 30 minutes the boys looked really solid, looked kind of tuned – you saw that they’d played together already a couple of times and how they fit really well in that formation, so that was good as well. So today I am of course happy but I know we must play much better to have a chance against City. But how I said, it was today a step in the right direction and I am happy about that.

On whether Alisson, Firmino and Salah are fit enough to start at Wembley on Sunday…

I don’t know yet in the moment, so that’s how it is. We have to see. I don’t say 100 per cent not, there’s a chance that they will play, yes. They will be involved whenever, from the start, maybe we cannot make these changes like today after half an hour or whatever, that’s maybe not possible in that game so we have to see. We have to see how they react tomorrow, now training is not the highest intensity anymore, now training is about the detail [and] we really need to prepare the game. Man City is different to all other games that you play – you have to play a pre-season game against Man City to prepare for Man City and we didn’t do that! We need to adapt to that but all good. Today was from a physical point of view very, very important for all the lads and from a psychological point of view of course as well. We are all human beings and losing football games we never get used to, so I’m really happy that we could change that today.

On Wilson’s future…

We are in constant conversations, that’s clear. We have to do the right thing for us and for the boy. There is nothing to talk about in public about it, so we will see what happens in the next eight or nine days until the window closes. He is obviously a really good player and I was really happy with him in the whole pre-season; he came back from Derby in a completely different [shape]. That’s a good example of how a loan can really work out – it was for Derby really good and for Harry as well. For us as well, which is good. I am happy for him that he could show that tonight again. He played not in his best position, he played left wing and did it really well. We tried to set it up a little bit so it is more comfortable for him with positioning and stuff like that. When he scored the goal, it was just Harry. Brilliant.



On his assessment of Lyon…

It was a good game. Apart from the goal we conceded, which was a nice attack on their left side with Depay and the left-back [Marcal]. We were not ready for that, but we had a pretty mixed line-up, especially the last line. Apart from that, I think we played really calm. It helped a lot how Adam Lallana played in that position; it is difficult to play in that central position when you have such a good footballer who wants each ball. It’s not too cool when you lose a ball there, to be honest, but all the rest was brilliant. Shaq did well and Naby Keita enjoyed the game as well, so that was really cool. With Mo it helped us a lot and with Bobby. Lyon are in the middle of the pre-season as well so they can for sure play better – and they will play better. It is a really strong side. When I saw the line-up and their physicality, then when we were walking out I thought ‘different weight class’! They are really in a good shape, they have an interesting team I have to say. I think everything will be fine for Lyon; I am not sure what Paris [Saint-Germain] are doing in the moment, that’s probably as difficult as it is for us with Man City! But apart from that, Lyon have a really good team and I like them.

On Adam Lallana’s pre-season form and position…

He played 60 minutes and we all know he had these few injuries, which step by step we have to get rid of it, it needs to disappear out of your mind. 60 minutes is a good thing after he could train – I think he had 96 or 97 per cent of all sessions he could do during the pre-season, which is exceptional and really good. Then he could play a lot of games – I think two he was not involved but only for precaution and nothing else. Today he looked really fresh, so for him the pre-season was very successful. On the position, it depends to the opponent and to the alternative and what you have. In a friendly you can accept you can lose a ball there, but in a proper match I am not sure. He is a very smart footballer – a very, very smart footballer. He likes it [the position] but it is not his only position now, we don’t say he is a No.6 or nothing.