Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has played down Mohamed Salah's strong social media message in the wake of his side's failure to qualify for the Champions League.
The Reds, who sit fifth in the Premier League table, needed Chelsea to defeat Manchester United at Old Trafford on Thursday to take the race for a top-four finish down to the final day.
However, Erik ten Hag's side ran out 4-1 winners over the Blues to confirm their qualification for the Champions League, while ensuring that Liverpool would be playing Europa League football next season for the first time in eight years.
In the wake of Man United's victory, a "totally devastated" Salah posted a compelling statement on Twitter, claiming that he and the team had let the fans down with their failure to finish in the top four.
"I'm totally devastated. There's absolutely no excuse for this. We had everything we needed to make it to next year's Champions League and we failed," Salah wrote.
© Reuters
"We are Liverpool and qualifying to the competition is the bare minimum. I am sorry but it's too soon for an uplifting or optimistic post. We let you and ourselves down."
Klopp was asked about Salah's post ahead of Sunday's finale away to Southampton, but he insisted that such a reaction was "completely normal" in the circumstances and revealed that Salah had cut a cheery figure at the training ground this morning.
"I'm a bit worried about the headlines you create with the things I say so do me a favour and try your best! Of course the moment we find out we can't qualify, we draw a line underneath it," Klopp said in his pre-game press conference.
"I am optimistic but in that moment I couldn't see it. It's completely normal in the world of social media, so many bad things happen constantly but I don't think Mo's message was one of them. He was right, but in an hour later in the canteen, he was smiling.
"It was clear very early on that this would not be a historically good season, we made mistakes, we weren't consistent enough. But in the last 10 games, the amount of points we collected since then was pretty good. If we did that all season, we would be different."
© Reuters
Despite Liverpool's end-of-season revival, which saw the Merseyside giants win seven games on the bounce before last weekend's draw with Aston Villa, Klopp consistently poured cold water on his side's Champions League chances, and the Reds boss has implored his side to keep their heads up.
"We should be optimistic about things, the farewell to our players was great. We have reasons to be optimistic, we are really united. If you can go through difficult moments, it's a great basis for a better future," Klopp added.
"The dressing room is not in a bad mood, we learnt to deal with the situation. We didn't point fingers at each other, it's all good. If you don't quality for the Champions League, the best you can do is fifth and that's what we did.
"If you asked 10 games ago I'd say it wasn't possible. That the boys did that is really good but not perfect. We have ended up fifth because of the inconsistency before [last 10 games]. There's no reason to keep our heads down until next season starts, I see plenty."
Liverpool head to St Mary's aiming to win their final Premier League game of the season for the seventh year running since drawing 1-1 away at West Bromwich Albion in 2015-16, which was Klopp's first season in charge.
Ben Knapton
