Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has jumped to the defence of senior pair Virgil van Dijk and Fabinho.

Both players have struggled this season as Liverpool have laboured both at home and in Europe. However, Klopp points out the pair are coming back from serious injuries.

But on Van Dijk, Klopp declared: "I think differently because I give people time.

"The world outside doesn't give people time. This world is a crazy place. Not only football but all. We don't have time for anything anymore. We know everything immediately, we Google everything: bam! Bam! Bam! Now or never.

"I am from a different time. I know that everybody needs time to develop and get back to their best. Everything needs time in life and everyone accepts that for themselves, but not for other people. I couldn't care less about that."

Klopp, meanwhile, recognises Fabinho has been out of form this season.

But, again, he will not judge him on the back of a challenging period. H

"It took a while but I think Fabinho is now completely different to what we saw four or five weeks ago – we have to keep that going now," said Klopp. "It's like 80% but he was not at all a problem in the game (against Madrid), he looked a lot better but had to play a lot.

"So it is not like click! Click! Click! He is back, play on, these kinds of things because we have plenty of No 6s. Stefan (Bajcetic) can play it, Hendo can play it, but when Fabinho is at his best, it is really important to have him there because he sorts or used to sort a lot of situations for us.

"That was fine in these last few games. Did Fabinho come back from an injury? No! It can just happen. A drop in form and no-one expected and you look at it and think: 'OK, it is interesting to watch.' But yes, everything needs time in a business when there is no time. That's the problem."