Klopp's stance on "difficult" penalties after Salah misses second of season

Liverpool lost more ground in the title race on Tuesday night, suffering a 1-0 defeat to a depleted Leicester City at the King Power Stadium, but it could have been a different story if Mohamed Salah had converted an early penalty.

Salah saw his spot-kick saved by Kasper Schmeichel after being fouled in the box by Wilfred Ndidi, and headed the rebound against the crossbar.

Ademola Lookman came off the bench to score the only goal of the game in the second half, with a man of the match performance from Schmeichel keeping Liverpool at bay.

The penalty miss was Salah's second of the season, after the Egyptian was denied by AC Milan keeper Mike Maignan in the Champions League, and it brings Jurgen Klopp's penalty comments into sharper focus.

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Before the Leicester miss, Salah had scored 15 consecutive Premier League penalties - more than any other active player in the competition.

His last miss from the spot in the league had come back in his first Liverpool season, when Huddersfield Town goalkeeper Jonas Lossl kept out his October 2017 effort.

However, even as Salah continued to score freely from the spot over the last few years, manager Klopp continued to stress the difficulty of the task.

"I tell you what, in the moment when you get a penalty I hate when people start celebrating in that moment because there's still a shot and a possible goalkeeper save in between," Klopp said earlier this month after Salah's penalty gave Liverpool a 1-0 victory over Aston Villa.

"I am really happy - really, really happy - and think it's exactly the same difficulty and importance like each other goal.

"There are goals during a season that are much easier than a penalty, when you tap it in from two yards, a square ball or whatever.

"If somebody says they [penalties] don't count the same I don't understand it, I think they count exactly the same - and should always."

Just 19 of Salah's 147 Liverpool goals have come from the penalty spot, but they include important ones in the league and in Europe.

They include the opening goal against Tottenham in the 2019 Champions League final, and a league winner against the same opponents a few months later.

The Villa game this season represented the second time he has scored the winning goal from the spot, after doing the same in the away victory over Atletico Madrid in the Champions League group stage.

Even after drawing a blank against Leicester, the 29-year-old has 15 Premier League goals to his name this term - five more than any other player in the competition.