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Rio Ferdinand has suggested that Liverpool star Mohamed Salah had a behind-the-scenes conversation with his manager Jurgen Klopp to ensure that he played on Wednesday night.

Liverpool travelled to Denmark to face FC Midtjylland in the Champions League for the final match of the group stages.

The Merseyside giants recorded a 1-1 draw after letting their early advantage slip, but they had already secured top spot in the group and are one of the seeded teams for Mondays’ last-16 Champions League draw.

Salah was perhaps a surprise inclusion in the starting XI for some fans on Wednesday, as the Midtjylland fixture was a dead rubber with nothing riding on it.

But the £34million star (BBC) played 90 minutes and his opening goal meant that he became Liverpool’s all-time leading goalscorer in the Champions League, overtaking Steven Gerrard’s individual record.

Ferdinand claimed in his post-match analysis that he suspects Salah spoke to Klopp to ensure he played him.

“More than anything tonight I was just surprised he was even on the pitch. He must have said something to the manager, or the manager has thought I need a bit of experience,” Ferdinand told BT Sport 2 (10:20pm, 9 December).

TBR’s View:

Salah is so driven by scoring goals and in that aspect it’s not a surprise he was involved against Midtjylland, but it looked like on paper a great opportunity to give him a rest with a busy schedule ahead.

The 28-year-old right-winger is obsessed by scoring and he’s now up to 12 goals in all competitions so far this season.

Liverpool have an upcoming schedule where they play Fulham, Tottenham and Crystal Palace in the space of six days, and it’s vital they have in-form attacker Salah firing on all cylinders.