Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has hailed the "unbelievably strong" Red Bull Salzburg side that his club eliminated from the Champions League on Tuesday.
The Reds travelled to Austria with plenty at stake in their Group E finale, knowing that defeat would see them exit the competition and Salzburg seal progression to the last 16.
Salzburg started the game brightly, fashioning several good chances in the first half but failing to capitalise.
And they were made to pay in the second half as a quickfire double from Naby Keita and Mohamed Salah gave Liverpool a 2-0 win and clinched a last-16 berth for the defending champions.
After the match Klopp was full of praise for Jesse Marsch's team, who will have to be content with a place in the Europa League with Napoli also progressing from Group E in second place behind the holders.
"I couldn't have more respect for what Salzburg are doing," Klopp said in his post-match press conference. "I know how people see it, you think about being best in Austria is OK but some people don't respect that."
Salzburg also showed their quality in their first meeting with Liverpool in October, a thrilling 4-3 win for Klopp's men, as well as a 1-1 draw away against Napoli in November.
“You see how good they are, how good they were in the first game, how good they were against Napoli," Klopp continued.
“Salzburg were unbelievably strong especially in the first half but we were as well and were ready for the fight. We should have scored in the first half and then in the second half, it's not easy to keep that intensity.
“We scored the goals and could have scored more, but I have really massive respect for Salzburg."
Marsch expressed his disappointment with the outcome, but also insisted he was proud of his side's effort.
"We're so disappointed because we started so well in this tournament and we played so well until the first goal," the American told UEFA.com.
"We saw our opponent's quality from the first minute. We had two chances with Hwang [Hee-chan] and [Erling] Haaland that we normally would have scored, but [Virgil] van Dijk was too good. It's disappointing but I think in a few days we will look back with pride.
"We said we'd need our best performance to win this game and we gave it until the first goal. I think things would have been different if we had scored first. But in the end they showed their quality, especially the second goal from Salah.
"It was like a heavyweight fight; they hit us, we hit them, and then they hit us twice for the knockout."
