Mignolet: I just knew Phil would score
Simon Mignolet says he could see Philippe Coutinho's late wonder goal against Stoke City coming, such is his faith in the Brazilian's ability to shoot from distance.
With the scores locked at 0-0 in the 86th minute at the Britannia Stadium on Sunday, the Reds looked set for a hard-earned point.
But Coutinho had other ideas and, after brilliantly turning away from Steve Sidwell in midfield, he unleashed a ferocious drive into the hosts' net to send the travelling fans wild.
Mignolet had a perfect view of the goal as it unfolded and insists he just knew his teammate was about to break the deadlock, having seen him execute a similar skill on a number of occasions in training.
"I knew what was going to happen," he told the Liverpool Echo.
"The moment Philippe got the ball out of his feet and cut inside I was shouting ‘shoot!’.
"He did the same at Bolton and Blackburn last season. We all knew what was going to happen.
"I see that quality from him every day in training. That great talent is something he was born with. He also works his socks off for the team.
"Hopefully we’ll see a lot more of that from him this season."
By winning on Sunday, Liverpool somewhat exorcised the ghosts of the season-ending 6-1 defeat to the Potters at the same venue in May.
And Mignolet was particularly pleased to keep a clean sheet, an achievement which he believes was a credit to the team as a whole.
"We had to dig deep," the Belgium international added.
"Everyone worked hard and we know that in tight games we have players who can make the difference.
"You know that whenever you go away in the Premier League, it’s going to be tough, especially at Stoke.
"The clean sheet was very satisfying. If we can defend well then we know we have the attacking quality going forward to score goals.
"We didn’t give much away and defended really well. Unlike the game here three months ago, we restricted them to very few chances and coped well with the pressure.
"We knew before the game what we would be facing. You have to be ready for that physical challenge and we showed we could handle it.
"Everyone made a contribution, starting with Christian Benteke, who was up front winning the second balls and battling to the very end.
"It was a very different dressing room afterwards compared to our last visit here. Nobody wanted to go back to that day. Everyone is very pleased this time.
"But it’s only the first game of the season and now we need to make sure we build on that."