Liverpool rediscovered lost form and seized the initiative against RB Leipzig in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 clash by cruising to a 2-0 win in a chilly Budapest on Tuesday.
Clinical early second-half strikes from Salah and Mane, both courtesy of dreadful defensive errors, proved decisive and left the German side facing a formidable task in the return leg on March 10.
The win moves Jurgen Klopp’s men to the brink of the Champions League quarter-finals and also ends a run of three straight defeats that has left the English champions 13 points behind leaders Manchester City in the Premier League.
“It was a game we wanted it was a game we needed tonight,” Klopp told BT Sport afterwards. “Leipzig can be a real monster. The way they play in the Bundesliga they overrun teams, they can be really physical in everything and tonight we controlled them in an exceptional way.
“They had their moments because of the quality they have but we controlled the game so tonight I think we got the result we deserved,” he said.
“We made two huge mistakes which would be punished at any level,” Nagelsmann told DAZN. “Mistakes happen, we didn’t play badly and we have to live with the result, we have to score twice just to take the game (return leg) to extra time, but we will try to do our best,” he said.