Jurgen Klopp Praises Character of Liverpool's Defence After Securing Late Win at Burnley

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has hailed the character of his defensive players following a last gasp 1-2 victory over Burnley on Saturday.

The Reds clinched a dramatic three points at Turf Moor after Ragnar Klavan headed home in stoppage time to deny the Clarets a draw after Jóhann Guðmundssonwho had cancelled out Sadio Mane's opener only minutes prior. 

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The late winner was created by the centre-back pairing of Dejan Lovren and Klavan who looked to have taken the spotlight away from new defensive signing Virgil van Dijk, but the quality and spirit of those in Liverpool's back-line was under no question from Klopp despite acquiring the Dutch defender.

Following the victory Klopp told the club's website: "I was never in doubt about the character of my boys, I never thought we had a proper defence problem. That doesn’t mean we didn’t need an extra player like Virgil [van Dijk] now, which will help a lot. But it was never in doubt." 

On the performance and manner of the victory as a whole, he added: "It was the most difficult circumstances for both teams, I would say, playing 48 hours ago. Both teams had an opponent which was motivated on the highest level, ready for these difficult circumstances with rain, wind and cold for the players.

"We deserved the three points but a draw would have been absolutely OK as well and if we don’t score then even Burnley would have deserved it, it was just an open game.

"We were the lucky side, but – as I said – I am really happy about attitude, character and all that stuff. You need to win your average games, you need to win with your attitude on your not 100 per cent best days. 

"Character-wise we were at 100 per cent, performance-wise I’ve seen us already better football playing… but who cares?"

Liverpool are now 16 games unbeaten across all competitions and are set to face rivals Everton in the FA Cup on Friday evening.