Jurgen Klopp has revealed that Adam Lallana said sorry for missing an open goal after Liverpool's draw with Manchester City.
The England attacking midfielder found himself with only Willy Caballero to beat late in the eventual 1-1 result at the Etihad Stadium.
Usually so efficient, Lallana inexplicably missed the ball when all he had to do was make some sort of strong contact and it would have been in the back of the net, but Klopp excused him for the error when speaking after the pulsating contest.
"Obviously he's one of the best – if not the best – player, technical-wise, I have ever worked with," said Klopp.
"If he couldn't [score] in this moment, I thought it was because he worked so hard before.
"The goalie was quite impressive for City today and maybe he made a good movement or whatever, or he [Lallana] was surprised that we played football like this because we hadn't 20 times before that.
"It was good, but that really can happen. Immediately after the game, Adam said 'sorry' to me and I thought 'why?' – but now I know why he thought he had to say sorry.
"But he didn't have to because his performance was outstanding again."
James Milner had given the Reds the lead from the penalty spot in the 51st minute before Sergio Aguero slotted home 18 minutes later as the two clubs remained fourth (Liverpool) and third (City) on the Premier League table respectively.