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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp says midfielder Thiago Alcántara has not recovered in time for his decisive clash against Manchester City on Sunday after suffering a knee problem in the Merseyside derby.
The Spaniard, a £ 20m signing from Bayern Munich this summer, was not involved in the Reds’ 2-1 win over West Ham last week, and it was feared the 29-year-old might need a surgery.
But Klopp said that although Thiago did not have to undergo surgery, he still needed more time before returning to the first team fold. The German manager had better news about Joel Matip, however, with the center-back in line to play City after recovering from a muscle problem.
“No, I’m not ready,” he said of Thiago at his press conference. “ No surgery was necessary, but still an injury, from what you see from day to day. The longer he’s gone, the longer he’ll have to train before we consider it again. Thiago will not be available for us on Sunday and that’s it.
‘Center halves – good. The boys enjoyed the challenge and we saw that they could do special things.
‘Yes, Joel [Matip] He’s back and he’s had seven, eight, nine days of training and after the game there will be 14 days of training for him. We’ll see what we can do. ‘
Liverpool have been plagued by a number of injury problems this season, and star center-back Virgil van Dijk was ruled out for the remainder of the season after he was eliminated by Everton goalkeeper Jordan Pickford.
Klopp will be relieved with the return of Matip, who was destined to replace van Dijk in central defense, while midfielder Fabinho’s hamstring problem seems less serious than initially feared and Alex Oxlade- Chamberlain is also close to a comeback.
“Well that’s the way it is with boys,” he said when asked about his progress.
“Especially Oxlade, it takes time but it looks great, but it takes time, everyone knows.”
Fit forward Diego Jota took a hit in the team’s 5-0 win over Atalanta, but Klopp dismissed any concerns about his fitness ahead of the Etihad trip and admitted he was satisfied after Matip, Naby Keita and Kostas Tsimikas They will return to full training.
“Everyone is training so that’s really good,” he added.
Nobody mentioned Diogo to me. Yesterday was the second day of recovery, he was involved. So it looked good. ‘
Source: m.allfootballapp.com
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