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Istanbul — Jurgen Klopp hailed “incredible” Uefa Super Cup hero Adrian and then admitted he had no idea where the goalkeeper even was a fortnight ago.

The Spaniard, only in the side because of an injury to number one goalkeeper Allison Becker, saved Tammy Abraham’s penalty to give Liverpool a 5-4 shootout win against Chelsea after the showdown between Champions League and Europa League winners had finished 2-2 in Istanbul on Wednesday.

The 32-year-old former Betis shot-stopper joined Liverpool on a free transfer to replace the departed Simon Mignolet on August 5, the day after Klopp’s team lost on penalties to Manchester City in the Community Shield.

Released by West Ham United, he was thrust into the spotlight when he had to replace the injured Alisson in the first half of the Premier League opening 4-1 win against Norwich today.

“I don’t know where Adrian was two weeks ago when we played Man City,” said Klopp after seeing his European champions win the Super Cup for the fourth time.

“When I spoke to him for the first time it was clear he would need time to get fit, but we didn’t have that time so he has to be fit now, and he was fit, he played an incredible game, he made sensational saves.”

Adrian made notable interventions during the game, diving at the feet of Mateo Kovacic in the first half and batting away a Mason Mount strike late in extra time.

However, he also fouled Abraham to give away the 101st-minute penalty which Jorginho scored to make it 2-2 after Sadio Mane’s 95th-minute second goal had seemed to have put the Merseysiders on course for an extra-time victory.

“In penalty shootouts you’re always lucky but his performance over 120 minutes was incredible, making the save from the penalty was the icing on the cake,” said Klopp.

“He helped us a lot and he can be really proud of what he did tonight,” added the German manager, who described Adrian as “a proper personality in the dressing room”.

Adrian had once been a regular for West Ham but did not play in the Premier League last season and his last appearance before arriving at Anfield had been an FA Cup defeat by third-tier AFC Wimbledon in January.

“Welcome to Liverpool! It was a crazy week, but with them it’s so easy playing at the back, so I am really happy for the team, happy to get that trophy, that title,” Adrian told BT Sport.

Klopp was also effusive in his praise of the all-female refereeing team, headed by France’s Stephanie Frappart, even if he was not happy with the penalty awarded to Chelsea in extra time.

“I told the ref team that if we had played like they whistled we would have won 6-0, that was my opinion, that they played a brilliant game.” 

Meanwhile, Cape Town – Chelsea boss Frank Lampard says his side’s performance in the Super Cup defeat to Liverpool is a much-needed injection of confidence for the new season.

Lampard suffered his second defeat on the bounce since taking charge of the club, this time losing 5-4 on penalties to the Reds in Istanbul, but he was far from downbeat after the game.

The Chelsea boss wanted a response from his side following the 4-0 defeat against Manchester United in the Premier League at the weekend and was pleased with what he saw.

Lampard felt his side deserved more at Old Trafford and the same can be said here as they took Liverpool to extra time and penalties, before losing the shoot-out 5-4.

Lampard said that he could not have been more proud of his players and believes they are in for a good season if they can continue to show the same kind of spirit and application.

“They showed their personality. It was a tough, tough game against a fantastic Liverpool team,” Lampard said after the match which finished 2-2.

“Talk about Jorginho, talk about that performance, talk about [N’Golo] Kante who has hardly trained, talk about Kurt Zouma, Andreas [Christensen], I could go through them all, incredible. I’m really proud and I know we lost, but I’m confident for the season after that.”

Lampard has been unable to sign new players this summer due to the transfer ban, but on the evidence of what he saw in Istanbul, he has no concerns on that front.

“We’ve got a real quality bunch in here,” he added. “People will talk about transfer bans and all that, but I already knew this was a really good group of players and we’re working harder as a team.”

Tammy Abraham missed the decisive penalty as it was saved by Liverpool goalkeeper Adrian, but Lampard had plenty of words of encouragement for his young striker after the game.

Christian Pulisic was another standout performer for Chelsea, with Lampard believing the American youngster will only get better as the season progresses.

The Blues will now return to England to prepare for their next Premier League encounter against Leicester City in what will be Lampard’s first home game in charge, and three points would go down very nicely indeed. 

— AFP-Sport24.