Christian Benteke: "I Had to Take It"

Alan Pardew was clearly unhappy with the circumstances surrounding Liverpool finally ending a three-game losing streak in against his side in the Premier League. Since that fateful 3-3 draw that ended Liverpool's most convincing title challenge in a generation, Crystal Palace have tormented Liverpool in league action. Stepping up deep into injury time to take a penalty that he won, Christian Benteke continued to prove that he is a goalscorer.

Whether Benteke remains at Anfield beyond the summer is immaterial with the current challenges the team faces in the Premier League and Europa League. Daniel Sturridge's fragility, Divock Origi's inexperience, and Danny Ings' injury will give Benteke some game time even with the flexibility and productivity of the increasingly talismanic Roberto Firmino. For Benteke, however, the focus is on what he can do and the opportunities he can take whenever they come his way.

"When the referee pointed to the penalty spot, straight away I said I would take the responsibility," Benteke told the official site. "No matter what, I had to take it and in my mind I was sure I was going to score. I'm very happy to help the team and I have to say everyone worked really hard, especially Divock [Origi] in attack.

"It was easier for me at the end because they [Palace defenders] were a bit tired. Hopefully I'm going to score a lot of goals between now and the end of the season, but as long as we win that is the main thing."

There have been many frustrating moments for a player who hasn't always looked suitable for what Liverpool and Jürgen Klopp are looking from in a striker, but the former Aston Villa player's words follow on neatly from his manager's encouragement over the past week. Attacking movement, or the lack thereof, remains a problem along with the availability of first-choice striker Daniel Sturridge, but the Belgian international is only concerned with what lies ahead.

"I'm very happy because we know to play against Palace here is never easy and we can be really proud of ourselves because we won with 10 men and we are really happy," the £32.5 million striker added. "It's back-to-back wins. We can be happy and now we have to focus again. We have a really big game on Thursday against Manchester United and we want to do well in the Europa League as well, so we're going to just keep going."

This is the time of the season when players need to step up and play their part as much as possible. Benteke is a squad player who did just that on Sunday, and with many key games ahead, there is an opportunity to put a more positive tint on a mixed campaign.