Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool managed to end on the victorious side after a nervous 1-0 over last-place Burnley in the Premier League game on Sunday.
But what surprised everyone was the inclusion of Sadio Mane, whose spot-kick in the final of the African Cup of Nations secured Senegal its first-ever continental championship.
An exhausted Mane joined the Reds training only on Friday after tasting success in the AFCON final.
While many were expecting Sadio Mane not to be part of the starting XI, Klopp's decision to play the Senegalese forward surprised many.
The playmaker returned to the starting lineup alongside Mo Salah and Roberto Firmino to face Burnley raised many eyebrows given the immense depth of Liverpool's attacking ranks that include the likes of Divock Origi, Takumi Minamino, Luis Diaz and Diogo Jota.
Klopp admitted that Sadio Mane "wasn’t the plan" for the match against 'The Clarets'. He claimed that plans changed after a minor injury to Diogo Jota.
After Liverpool's 1-0 win, Klopp told that "dead leg for Jota prompted him to change his lineup."
He said, "Sadio played really well. It wasn’t the plan to start him today, because you know how intense everything was. But Diogo had a dead leg, couldn’t train yesterday, that’s why we started Sadio.”
Klopp also stated that Luis was kept out of the team due to the harsh nature of a clash with Burnley and the young lad needed more time to adapt.
"For Luis, he adapted really well, but this is a completely different game, like ‘welcome to the Premier League‘. We didn’t want to try it if we didn’t need it, and that’s why we started like we started.Sadio did really well, working incredibly hard, and that’s exactly what we expected," he said.
A 1-0 win over last-place Burnley in challenging conditions at Turf Moor returned second-place Liverpool to within nine points of Manchester City.
The Reds also have a game in hand, at home to struggling Leeds on Feb. 23, and still have to play City away in April.
Fabinho was the match-winner for Liverpool, the midfielder keeping up his unlikely scoring run of late by bundling the ball into the net from close range in the 40th minute after his initial shot had been saved following Sadio Mane’s flick-on at a corner.
Fabinho has now scored five goals in his last seven appearances for Liverpool in all competitions, including two in one game in the FA Cup.
Speaking about the outcome of the game, Klopp said, "I’m absolutely delighted with the way we played (in) the circumstances, it was so tricky. Only when you stood on the pitch could you feel the extent of the wind, it was ridiculous. The boys stuck with it and over the years have learned to deal with the circumstances. We asked ourselves to use it instead of suffering from it. A really difficult game."
(With Inputs From AP)