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Liverpool’s lucky charm: Joel Matip’s outstanding record

  /  autty

The Cameroonian has scored eight goals for the Reds in the English topflight and all of those games have ended in victory for the Anfield giants

Joel Matip was Liverpool’s hero having scored the winner in Tuesday’s 2-1 Premier League victory over Southampton.

Even with the absence of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Virgil van Dijk, Jurgen Klopp’s men secured an impressive comeback victory against the Saints.

With scores tied 1-1 at St. Mary’s Stadium after Takumi Minamino had cancelled out Nathan Redmond’s first-half effort, the former Cameroon international had the final say with his 67th-minute strike.

Konstantinos Tsimikas' cross from a corner kick swayed towards the penalty spot and the Cameroonian connected with the ball that deflected off Kyle Walker-Peters before it sailed past goalkeeper Alex McCarthy.

Matip now seems to be a lucky charm for the 19-time English kings as they have always won their English elite division matches when the African nets.

Also, the 30-year-old centre back has only lost in 10 of his 125 Premier League appearances (8%), the lowest ratio of any of the 1,081 players to appear at least 100 times in the competition's history.

Apart from playing for 90 minutes and scoring his third goal of the 2021-22 campaign, statistics showed the former Schalke 04 player gave a good account of himself.

He boasts three interceptions and one clearance from his defensive duties, with just one shot at goal.

Matip accounted for 99 touches, 90 passes and a passing accuracy of 95.6 per cent.

Meanwhile, Guinea international Naby Keita was introduced for Roberto Firmino with seven minutes left on the clock while Ibrahima Konate played from start to finish.

Manager Klopp is impressed with his team’s performance and has likened his squad to "Ferraris in the garage".

"Top game, unbelievable performance, nine changes. It worked out because of the players. If it hadn't worked out it 1000% would have been my responsibility," he told the media.

"It's like having Ferraris in the garage! I couldn't be more proud tonight. Players who haven't played for weeks or months playing like they did tonight. It's exceptional.

"I saw a sensational performance without rhythm. The mentality after being 1-0 down in a situation I think we agree could have been a free-kick. We were all a bit outraged but the boys calmed down.

"We scored a wonderful goal, we were never out of the game but it was open again. Second half we kept going, had spells where we didn't control the ball well enough then scored to make it 2-1 and then it was normal."

Liverpool take on Wolverhampton Wanderers in their final match of the season at Anfield on Sunday, while Southampton travel to face Leicester City.