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'A wonderful story' - Klopp on injury-ravaged Lallana's goal against Man Utd

Jurgen Klopp has welcomed the "wonderful story" of Adam Lallana returning to prominence at Liverpool, with an injury-ravaged star making a telling contribution against Manchester United.

The 31-year-old midfielder has suffered a succession of fitness problems during his time at Anfield, keeping him on the sidelines for longer than he would have liked.

Lallana is, however, fully fit in 2019-20 and has taken in six appearances so far this season.

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Having only made 31 in total across the last two campaigns, the hope is that a player with an expiring contract can continue to make an impact.

He did just that when stepping off the bench at Old Trafford on Sunday, with a priceless goal preserving Liverpool’s unbeaten record and keeping them six points clear at the top of the Premier League table.

Reds boss Klopp told the club’s official website of having Lallana available on a regular basis: "A wonderful story. A wonderful, wonderful, wonderful story.

"This weekend we had a long talk in general about our situation, and he is completely relaxed and fine and knows how difficult it is at the moment to come into the team.

"But he just trains well and he deserved that; it was 25-30 minutes and he had a proper impact. Then scoring a goal… wow! That was really, really nice.

"Then the heart rate went up a bit because VAR was involved – but he said he knew it would not be offside, so that was all fine. A wonderful story. A wonderful, wonderful story.

"It would have been a better story if somebody would have scored a second one, but now we have to take that."

Lallana will be hoping that there are many more entries in his wonderful story to come.

Liverpool, in the ongoing defence of their European crown, will be back in Champions League action on Wednesday when they take on Genk.

Klopp’s men are then set to take in back-to-back meetings with north London heavyweights, with a Premier League home date against Tottenham followed by a Carabao Cup fourth-round visit from Arsenal.

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