Diogo Jota will take no part in Liverpool’s clash with Fulham on Sunday after sustaining a knee injury in midweek, with fears that the winger could be out for an extended period.
The 24-year-old picked up a “knock” during the 1-1 draw with Midtjylland in the Champions League.
He was immediately ruled out of the clash with the Cottagers. However, there are now concerns that the Reds could be without another key man for some time.
Paul Joyce of The Times states that Liverpool are waiting for the problem to “settle down” before they assess the seriousness of the injury.
Jota was named in Klopp’s starting XI for the match in Denmark despite the Reds already qualifying for the last-16.
And a potentially serious injury appears to have compounded that decision. Back-up left-back Kostas Tsimikas also went down in what was a physical contest.
Jota has been in outstanding form since making a big-money move from Wolves, scoring nine times in 17 games.
His performances have allowed Klopp to rotate his famed front three. There has, meanwhile, also been occasions when the Reds boss has featured off four of his attackers.
But should Jota be ruled out for a significant time, it will put extra pressure on the likes of Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mo Salah over the busy festive period.
Liverpool have already suffered a number of devastating injury blows this season as they bid to defend their title.
Starting centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez are set to miss the rest of the season. Another summer signing, Thiago, has also had issues which have limited his game time.
The Reds will now be keeping their fingers crossed that medical tests for Jota come back with positive news.
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Bayern legend in shock Liverpool claim
One of Bayern Munich’s most consistent defenders of the last 25 years, Thomas Helmer, has admitted he was too scared to make the move to Liverpool when the chance arose during his heyday.
The centre-half won a plethora of trophies during his career, most of which was spent with the all-conquering Bayern Munich.
Helmer won three Bundesliga titles, a DFB-Pokal title and a UEFA Cup. He could – and will feel he should – have been a Champions League winner too. Helmer was part of the Bayern side that conceded two injury-time goals to lose the 1999 final to Manchester United.
Now for the first time, Helmer has admitted he was subject to an approach from Liverpool back in 1998. With Bayern ready to accept Liverpool’s offer, the decision over the move was left in Helmer’s hands.
However, he opted to stay at Bayern. Speaking to Sport 1’s “Lieber Fußball” podcast, as transcribed by Blick, Helmer admits the move to Anfield didn’t quite tick his boxes.
“I didn’t have the courage to go to Liverpool”, Helmer admitted.
“At that point, I was a bit cowardly.
“The prospect of winning a few more titles was more important to me than adventure and money.” Read more…
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Robert McCarthy
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