Emre: It was a big day for me but the win is most important
Emre Can has admitted he would have loved to have turned the first brace of his professional career into a hat-trick as Liverpool beat Hoffenheim.
But the German insisted he was happy enough with the 4-2 victory that propelled the Reds into the group stages of the Champions League for this season.
Can netted either side of a Mohamed Salah finish as the hosts raced into a three-goal lead inside the first 21 minutes at Anfield on Wednesday evening.
And he could have been taking the matchball home had an effort just before the break found enough curl to nestle in the far corner, rather than skidding wide.
In the end, though, the No.23 was forced to settle for a 6-3 aggregate victory which ensures he and his colleagues will compete in Europe's premier cup competition in 2017-18 - and he doesn't mind one bit.
He told Liverpoolfc.com: "It was a big day for me and I think this was the first game that I scored two goals in my career... I think!
"But the most important thing is that we won the game and that I could help the team with the goals.
"The ball was very, very close [to going in for what would've been his third] but it was most important that we won the game.
"It would have been nice if I'd scored the hat-trick but maybe one day."
In Focus: Watch the best bits of Emre's two-goal display
Jürgen Klopp's team were utterly irresistible in the opening 45 minutes, putting on a performance that arguably merited more than the three goals they plundered.
Can described playing alongside such talented attackers as 'brilliant' but says he and his teammates have areas where they will look to improve further still.
"I'm very happy to have such good teammates, it's just fantastic," he added.
"You see Sadio [Mane], Salah, [Roberto] Firmino, everyone attacking, it's brilliant to play with them.
"You could see that in the first 30 minutes, we played really, really well.
"But, of course, we can do better still. The last 15 minutes of the first half, we didn't defend that [well] and I think there's still a lot to improve.
"But everyone's happy that we play in the Champions League this year."
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