Whatever he said, it clearly worked.
James Maddison appeared to be trying to distract Mohamed Salah moments before the forward missed a penalty in the first half of Liverpool’s defeat at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday.
The Egyptian was awarded a spot-kick when Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi brought him down inside the penalty area.
Salah has a spectacular record from 12 yards, having missed just two of his 20 penalties for the Reds.
However, he was unable to convert from the spot as Kasper Schmeichel saved the penalty before his rebounded header hit the bar and was cleared away.
Replays of the spot-kick show Maddison speaking into Salah’s ear as he waited for the referee to blow his whistle, with the midfielder then taking up a position directly behind the Liverpool man as he ran up to take the penalty.
Mo Salah misses from the spot and then heads the rebound against the crossbar! 😱
A rare miss and a big missed opportunity for Liverpool 🔴 pic.twitter.com/htLheQ6TPD
— Premier Sports (@PremSportsTV) December 28, 2021
James Maddison appeared to try to distract off Mohamed Salah before penalty miss.
Following the game, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp said that Maddison tried to put Salah off, but conceded that almost all opposition players would do likewise.
“Yes, James Maddison for sure was talking to him (to put him off) but everybody tries that,’ the German said, before defending his star player.
“There’s not a little bit of blame for him (Salah) or whatever. Mo usually scores from these situations and tonight he didn’t.
“It was a little like the whole game, Mo is part of the team and usually he is better in this situation like the team was better in the football game.”
Leicester City 1-0 Liverpool.
The away side had a number of chances throughout the game, with Schmeichel making a number of good saves to deny Jürgen Klopp’s men.
Sadio Mane missed a glorious opportunity after Diogo Jota slipped him through with an inviting through ball, but the Senegalese forward blasted his strike over the crossbar.
Despite dominating much of the tie, it was Brendan Rodgers’ side who scored the only goal of the game when substitute and former Everton man Ademola Lookman calmly finished past Alisson in the second half.
Liverpool continued to press for an equaliser, but the Foxes were resilient in their defending and managed to prevent the visitors from scoring late into the tie.
The defeat leaves the Reds six points behind league-leaders Manchester City, but Klopp’s side have now played the same number of games as their title rivals.
For Leicester, they move into ninth position, level on points with Wolves who currently sit in eighth.
