Arne Slot revealed Ibrahima Konaté was not due to face Newcastle following the recent death of his father. The centre-back was rewarded for responding to Liverpool’s defensive crisis with his first Premier League goal at Anfield.

Konaté returned from compassionate leave after three matches out to cap Liverpool’s convincing 4-1 comeback win against Eddie Howe’s team. The France international was in tears after scoring in front of the Kop and admitted he did not: “have words to describe what I feel right now” following the poignant goal.

The Liverpool head coach revealed: “He has had a very difficult two weeks. He was planning to be back for the end of this week and it would have meant he could not play this game, but when he saw the problems we had defensively, he called me early this week and said: ‘I want to be back to help the team against Newcastle’.

“He came back on Wednesday and trained twice with us. Today, not only he scored a goal, but he played a great game and the fans were really appreciative throughout the whole game, but definitely at the end when he scored. His teammates were just as appreciative when...