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Cape Town - Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp praised Mohamed Salah for his impact from the bench as he scored two goals to help the Reds to a 3-0 win over Stoke City on Wednesday night.
Sadio Mane had opened the scoring at the Bet365 Stadium on 17 minutes, in a game were Salah was initially rested - with Klopp making six changes to his side.
Dominic Solanke was making his first Premier League start, but came off for Salah on 67 minutes, who then netted 10 minutes later and then again on 83 minutes to seal the win.
After the game, Klopp admitted it was a difficult match that he was delighted to have won.
"It was hard work, but that’s how football should be – especially when you go to places like Stoke, so it was no surprise," the Reds boss told the club's official website.
"I think we could have made it a little bit easier for ourselves in the first half if we’d used the two fantastic chances we had."
He added: "Second-half, it was still an open goal but we should have been clearer in different situations with better passing in this moment, or a little bit cooler in another situation."
As well as bringing on Salah, Klopp also replaced Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain with James Milner, for a double substitution.
Klopp continued: "Then we changed twice and could decide the game. Two fantastic goals [from Salah], brilliant play - especially the second goal and the third one was a nice counter-attack a nice finish.
"In the end, it was well deserved but it was hard work. That’s how it is and no problem with that."
And on the impact made by Salah, Klopp added: "It is obviously good for us. It is difficult for all of the players coming on with this temperature.
"Last week we had a little bit of a problem [with the players that came on against Chelsea] and the next day more problems than the players that started; obviously sitting on the bench is not too nice, but today it worked really well. Two fantastic goals, to be honest."
