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Cape Town — Jurgen Klopp says his current Liverpool squad is the strongest he has ever worked with as the players prepare for a return to action after a warm-weather training camp in Spain.

Despite the sale of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona for £142 million last month, the former Mainz and Borussia Dortmund boss said it was difficult to leave players out.

Last week’s 5-0 thrashing of Porto in the last-16 of the Champions League was achieved without the suspended Emre Can and long-term injured Nathaniel Clyne but there was still no room in the matchday 18 for the likes of Dominic Solanke, Ragnar Klavan and Ben Woodburn, the youngest scorer in the club’s history.

The result means Liverpool, who host West Ham in the Premier League on Saturday, have virtually ensured a first Champions League quarter-final for nine years, with the second-leg at Anfield now a formality.

“It’s really hard in the moment to make the squad,” Klopp told the club’s TV channel, LFCTV. “Wow, I’ve never had a situation like that with the quality of the players not being in the squad.

“They all have made really big steps. Dom Solanke was not in the squad but is in outstanding shape at the moment. Ragnar Klavan, unbelievable. Ben Woodburn makes steps and is really close to everything.

“It’s difficult, it’s getting more and more difficult, but that’s good for us of course.”

Striker Danny Ings was one of the players to come off the bench at the Estadio do Dragao.

It was just the 25-year-old’s sixth appearance of the season after making his comeback from two serious knee injuries in the previous two campaigns.

“Danny is in fantastic shape. It always takes time. Now, after two-and-a-half years, he can play in the Champions League. It’s a wonderful story, it’s really deserved,” added Klopp, whose side are third in the Premier League.

“Is Danny knocking on the door for the first team? Yes, absolutely. It’s good. He needed time.

“A few months ago it was different but a player like him, when they come back they think ‘I am under pressure’ and they want to come in immediately and get game time.

“Danny went the hard way. He played a lot of games for the under-23s.

“If you feel like a settled player, like he usually is, and then you play under-23 and are not the best player on the pitch, then it’s not nice but it’s an important experience again.”

Meanwhile, Liverpool’s top scorer Mohamed Salah has credited manager Jurgen Klopp’s tactics for his prolific form, saying a change in his playing position has helped him score more goals.

Salah has netted 30 goals in 36 matches across all competitions in his debut season at Liverpool, and is the league’s second highest goalscorer with 22 goals to his name, one fewer than Tottenham Hotspur forward Harry Kane.

“With the boss here, I play a little bit closer to the goal, more so than at any other club or more than any of my other coaches have asked me to,” Salah told Liverpool’s official matchday programme.

“So I am always in front of the goal to give me the opportunity to score. The manager is always telling me to stay close to the goal in training.

“I don’t want to say too much because we still have a long way to go in the season and I don’t want to give too much away. But yes, it’s something we have worked on in the training sessions.”

The 25-year-old’s exploits have led Liverpool to third in the league standings and almost guaranteed of a spot in the Champions League quarterfinals after a 5-0 victory over Porto in the first leg of their last-16 tie.

The Egyptian has also taken the second highest number of shots in the league with 103 and is eager to be more clinical.

“You cannot score 10 goals from 10 balls — that’s impossible and I know that I have missed many chances too this season. But I am trying to improve,” Salah added.

“I am always trying to see my weaknesses and then work on them and I am always trying to score in different ways.

“The coaches help me so much to do that and I also work hard alone after the training sessions.”

Liverpool host West Ham United in the league on Saturday. — Reuters.