Klopp confirms Liverpool's first-choice penalty taker

The Reds boss has settled doubts on will do the honors from the 12-yard spot in games for this season.

Jurgen Klopp has stated James Milner is Liverpool’s first-choice penalty taker with Mohamed Salah being the club’s back-up option.

As a central midfielder, who often plays as a full-back as well, Milner isn’t famed for his goalscoring exploits. In fact, he has just 26 goals and 41 assists in 228 appearances since his arrival in 2015 from Manchester City.

But the 34-year-old’s penalty record is impressive, having missed just five of his 35 attempts throughout his entire career.

The last time Milner missed from the spot was on November 2017, and he last scored a penalty in a 4-0 thrashing over Leicester City on December 2019.

“James Milner is No.1 penalty taker, but when James is not playing, then it’s Mo [Salah]. When Millie is on the pitch then he can decide,” said Klopp in a pre-match conference on Saturday.

“How it is always, sometimes you don’t feel 1,000 percent or you think, ‘He’s scored two already’ and this kind of stuff. That didn’t change, we didn’t speak about it for a long, long time.

“Most the time, probably Millie was not on the pitch but I think I remember at least once when Millie was on the pitch and gave it to Mo.”

The Reds boss added: “For me, it is only important that the ball is in the back of the net after whichever player from my team shot the ball.

“Millie gave us a pretty impressive number of penalties he finished off and Mo as well. So, that’s for me both fine and that’s how it is in the moment, that’s how the decision is.”

Liverpool will face West Brom in their latest Premier League match on Sunday evening.