Jurgen Klopp has revealed how Rhys Williams played through the pain barrier to help Liverpool finish third in the Premier League. The 20-year-old defender suffered a hamstring problem in the 3-0 win over Burnley in midweek and didn’t train at the AXA Centre in the build-up to Sunday’s 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace. Two goals from Sadio Mane ensured the Reds finished above Leicester and Chelsea as Williams kept a second successive clean sheet alongside Nat Phillips. And after Liverpool secured a third-place finish in the Premier League, Klopp explained how Williams battled through to help his more established team-mates out against Roy Hodgson’s Eagles.
Jurgen Klopp said: “[Finishing third] is big, come on. If somebody would have told me five, six or eight weeks ago that we would finish the season in third, it was out of reach. Very often we had 20 things that happened to us. The injuries followed us all season. We win 3-0 at Burnley on Wednesday night, then we go home and Rhys Williams needs a scan because he had a hamstring injury. We were lucky he could play today. Today [Williams and Nat Phillips] both get a cut too! How they played is absolutely incredible. Rhys Williams and Nat Phillips are both cut up and stitched, Rhys hasn’t trained for three days. The steps they made this season, they should be very proud. Fighting through this and finishing here in third is the best lesson you could learn in life. From nowhere to the Champions League in five weeks is a massive achievement.”
