Jurgen Klopp has acknowledged that Liverpool's performance in their Champions League quarter-final second leg against Manchester City was not perfect but praised his players for digging in and grabbing a "deserved" win.
The Reds ran out 2-1 winners over the Citizens in Tuesday night's match at the Etihad Stadium, putting them through 5-1 on aggregate following their superb 3-0 first-leg win at Anfield last Wednesday.
Man City dominated the first half and went in at the break a goal up, however, and although Klopp was pleased with the overall performance from his side, he acknowledged that the first-half display left a lot to be desired.
"It was quite difficult tonight, again especially with the start," Klopp told BT Sport. "This wonderful goal that we served them on a plate. I was expecting something like that but I liked the reaction immediately after that.
"City took all the risks they could take, we needed a bit of luck and a disciplined defending formation. I was not overly happy at half-time to be honest.
"[Pep Guardiola] took all the risks and it was his decision and it could've been the absolute right one, it's easy to say afterwards. They could've scored two or three goals in the first half but it was 100% clear that if we win the ball we'd have an opportunity.
"The last situation in the first half was how you do the counter-attack and that's how we scored the two goals. It's not about perfection - it's about the result, the character, the mentality, really fighting for the result. We defended well, it's not our best game but we deserved it at the end."
The Reds will discover their semi-final opponents when the draw is made at 12pm on Friday.
Giuseppe Labellarte
