Liverpool striker Divock Origi admits he has endured a “very difficult” time not getting into Jurgen Klopp’s team.
The Belgium international’s only starts since April have been in the EFL Cup, but he came off the bench to score a crucial breakthrough goal in the 2-0 win over Sunderland on Saturday.
Divock Origi was brought on after Liverpool talisman Philippe Coutinho suffered a horrific-looking injury in the 34th minute of the game and his replacement showed that he is very much capable of delivering for the Reds in showing the depth of their squad.
The Belgian was instrumental for Jurgen Klopp in last season’s Europa League as they reached the finals only to lose out to Sevilla, who won the competition three consecutive seasons in a row. Having suffered an injury when he was probably in the form of his young career was a huge set-back.
Origi fell down the pecking order behind Roberto Firmino and Daniel Sturridge and was out of favor once again. Though after a good performance after coming on from the bench his manager believes that the 21-year-old is now ready to step up his game and put in a shift.
“I am fine, really happy about the skills of the boys, but injury is never a positive thing. Only to show that Divock Origi is a good football player, I don’t need injury of another player. But when Div came in, its how it is in life, timing is very important and now he’s ready again and that’s good,” Klopp told his post-match media conference at Anfield on Saturday evening.”
The German also added, “Maybe it’s a coincidence in this situation, but he’s ready again. He had a few problems after the summer break, not big, then he nearly played nowhere, not for Belgium, not for us and that’s not good. He was switched on from the first second, and it’s not an easy situation, nobody could’ve expected in this moment that we had to make a substitution, but we did it and Div was immediately in the game, that was really, really important.”
Liverpool are currently 2nd in the League, level on points with Manchester City but with a better goal-difference and just one point behind leaders Chelsea.