Jurgen Klopp explains decision to not name Mohamed Salah Liverpool captain

Jurgen Klopp has explained his reasoning for naming Trent Alexander-Arnold captain for Liverpool's Champions League fixture against Midtjylland in December instead of Mohamed Salah.

The Reds fielded a youthful side for their final group stage match of the 2020/21 competition, and 22-year-old Alexander-Arnold was given the armband for the fixture despite Salah - six years his senior - also starting.

The Liverpool forward admitted he was 'very disappointed' at not being handed the captaincy, and Klopp conceded that his decision was the result of a slight miscalculation.

“I was captain for a long time in my career and I always thought: ‘what a job this is’ because there are not a lot of benefits and there is a lot of work,” Klopp said (via the Guardian).

“I didn’t feel, or do not feel, the importance of being captain. Before the game I did not realise how important that can be for players and I didn’t realise how big a story it was for Trent.

“The rule here is we have a players’ committee. The committee is Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Virgil van Dijk and Gini Wijnaldum. These are pretty much the four captains.

"If they all cannot play, usually it is the guy who is longest in the club. And that, how I saw it, was Trent. I don’t mean youth career, but in his professional career. Then somebody told me that on that basis it should have been Divock Origi. So it was my fault.

“Afterwards I spoke to Mo about it. Then I realised it did not work out that well so I clarified it. Obviously he gave the interview. That is not a problem for me. Obviously he was disappointed. I did not do it on purpose, and if I made a mistake then it was not making Divock Origi captain that day.”