Jurgen Klopp celebrated Liverpool's win over Crystal Palace on Sunday afternoon, by handing out beers to the fans waiting outside the team coach.
Saturday's surprise draw for Manchester City, in their game against Southampton, meant that, for the first time in 13 games, Liverpool could close the gap on their Premier League rivals.
Knowing a win would take them to within nine points of Pep Guardiola's team, with a game in hand, Klopp would have been very happy that his team got on to the perfect start, with Virgil van Dijk scoring after eight minutes.
The Liverpool boss would have been less happy with how much of the game panned out, with Palace actually unlucky not to earn a point, but at least, for him, the Reds came away with a win, thanks in part to a very controversial penalty.
So happy was the manager with closing the gap to City that before his team departed south London for Merseyside, the 54-year-old nipped onto the team coach, grabbed some beers and handed them out to waiting fans.
After Van Dijk had headed the title chasers into the lead, having been unmarked at a corner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain made it 2-0 just after the half hour mark.
At that point it looked like the visitors would easily romp home to a victory, with Palace's only really chance coming from an offside position, with Alisson saving anyway.
However, Patrick Vieira's team soon got into the game and the Brazilian keeper was called on time and time again, saving well twice at the end of the first half.
Odsonne Edouard did score in the 10th minute of the second half but Alisson kept the striker, as well as Michael Olise, out on several other occasions.
In the end, Liverpool were able to extend their lead thanks to a controversial penalty, after Trent Alexander-Arnold's brilliant ball to Diogo Jota, with Fabinho converting the spot kick.
Speaking after the match, Klopp praised his keeper for saving them in the game, "It was a bit Jekyll and Hyde football today. You could see how good we can be. We were incredible in the first 35 minutes," the former Borussia Dortmund boss told BBC Sport.
"Then after an intense week – away at Arsenal – I don’t have any real explanation but the intensity might be one. We became sloppy in the last line.
"...I said to him now, thank you for saving our backside again. He said ‘that’s my job’. It is very helpful to have a world-class goalkeeper at the back."
The Brazilian almost certainly got handed a beer on the way back to Liverpool too!
Featured Image Credit: TwitterTopics: Liverpool, Jurgen Klopp, Premier League, Crystal Palace
Ryan Sidle