Konate bullied Zaha on Liverpool debut and left him on the deck

Ibrahima Konate came in for high praise after a stellar debut for Liverpool, and one incident with Wilfried Zaha showed exactly the sort of player the Reds have on their hands.

French defender Konate was made to wait for his first appearance following a £36m switch from RB Leipzig over the summer.

But after sitting on the bench for the first five games of the season, Jurgen Klopp finally gave the 22-year-old the nod to start alongside Virgil van Dijk in the 3-0 win over Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Konate gave a good account of himself from the off at Anfield, using his strength and pace to good effect.

And one moment on the 20 minute mark involving Palace threat Zaha showed off the wisdom and composure of a player 10 years Konate's senior.

With Zaha getting the better of him while running into the penalty box, Konate slightly leaned into the Ivorian, causing him to lose balance and end up in a heap on the floor.

The ball stopped dead, allowing Konate time to pick a pass, and any danger was immediately cut out.

What did you make of Konate's debut? Comment down below

Klopp admitted at full-time that he was very pleased with Konate's performance, but insisted that this was just the start for the France U21 international.

“You can see he is incredibly talented,” Klopp said following the game. “The potential is outstanding.

"He is used to winning challenges easy. He is young and he played a really good game. Massive. First home game for him.

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“You want the team to watch the games and see what we do. We need to have experience from what we see. And he did really well. So much potential.

“He will get better. Today, against Benteke and Edouard and Zaha, there were situations where it is new for him. Step by step.”

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