The defender had himself a night.
Nat Phillips had himself a night. Burnley went direct, and that played really nicely into the big centre-back’s hands, as he dominated in the air for Liverpool FC. He then bagged himself the second goal from a Sadio Mane cross, and then also cleared off his own goal line in the second half at a crucial point in the second half. Quite deservingly, he won the Man of the Match award. Speaking to Sky Sports after the game, the defender spoke on his love of defending, and why he prefers clearances to goals:
It was a really tough and physical game, one of the toughest I’ve had all season, so credit to Burnley, they made it difficult for us. It was nice to see we managed to score three goals and take our chances, which is something we had struggled with throughout the season a bit.
Clearing off the line (gave him more pleasure than the goal). It’s my job to stop the ball going in the net, to stop goals, so if I can get on the scoresheet – then happy days, it’s a bit of a bonus, but I’d much rather have a clean sheet.
Clean sheet and three points. Take a bow, big man.