Jurgen Klopp insists that Philippe Coutinho remains enamoured with Liverpool.
Coutinho opened the scoring and created another for the Reds during their Premier League Asia Trophy win over Leicester City in Hong Kong.
That man-of-the-match performance followed news that Barcelona had seen a £72 million bid for the Brazil playmaker turned down by the Anfield hierarchy.
Liverpool are still refusing to entertain the prospect of selling Coutinho, who has been a regular target for the Catalan giants over the previous nine months.
And Klopp believes that the 25-year-old’s contentment with life on Merseyside has remained unchanged despite Barca formalising their interest in him.
He said: “Everyone knows that Phil Coutinho is a key player for us.
“I know that he feels completely more than fine, comfortable, whatever, in Liverpool. He loves the club and the city – that’s clear.
“That he’s able to play like that tonight in a very difficult moment of the pre-season after all these sessions is good to see.
“That shows his big potential.”
The Liverpool manager also criticised match referee Bobby Madley for failing to protect Coutinho from overzealous tackling against the Foxes.
“I was not too happy about two decisions around Phil Coutinho – 100 per cent,” added Klopp.
“He (Madley) told me that if I behave like I behaved today then I would have to go in the stands.
“I said: ‘If I behave like today then I go in the stand, no problem. But you have to change how you whistle’
“That’s the only thing. For me, it was a clear foul, 100%. It’s dangerous. We had a similar situation at Wigan.
“What can I do? Write a letter? ‘By the way, that’s a foul so next time can you whistle?’ It’s a difficult game to whistle for refs, I know all this.
“But these things are obvious for me and that’s why I thought it would be nice if he could help the players a little bit more.
“These players make the difference and these players bring people into the stadium. That’s why we have to look after them a little bit.”