Klopp says Liverpool hit by sickness bug before Premier League trip to Man City
Jurgen Klopp says Liverpool's players have been suffering with illness ahead of their Premier League trip to Manchester City.
Speaking at Friday afternoon's press conference, Klopp was divulging the fitness status of several of his squad when he said that players had suffered with "stomach bugs" during the international break, but thankfully they had cleared up ahead of the game at the Etihad Stadium.
Discussing midfielders Naby Keita and Thiago Alcantara, he said: "Naby is out. He came back with a muscle injury from the national team. We will see how long it takes.
"Thiago is in a good way, but is not part of team training yet. He will probably be part of next week's training. Rhys Williams has a little bit of something. We had stomach bugs here and there, but that stopped two days ago."
The fact that the bouts of illness seem to have stopped will be music to the ears of Klopp, who goes into the game at the start of a huge week for Liverpool, who also face Chelsea on Tuesday and host leaders Arsenal next Sunday.
Chelsea complete record-breaking Enzo Fernandez transfer after deadline day rush
On the week of fixtures, Klopp said: "It's like a Champions League week. I'm super excited.
"We are not dumb. We know the last game vs [Real] Madrid wasn't a good game, before that at Bournemouth wasn't a good game, the one before [the 7-0 win over Manchester United ] was world class. We have to pick up from there and react to the other two games."
Liverpool went out of the Champions League at Real Madrid in their last game (AFP via Getty Images)On City specifically, he added: "It's a super important game. That's the one thing not different to all the other years. We know it's a massive game, a massive week coming up. For tomorrow they deserve all the attention - we can't think about the other games."
City boss Pep Guardiola has been guarded on the fitness of his star striker Erling Haaland heading into the game, but Klopp says he isn't too concerned whether the Norwegian plays or not.
"Not too much," he said.
"When you prepare a game, you prepare all things to avoid the final pass - which is where Erling really comes into the game. He is a proper striker, but they became champions without a striker. That's how it is, you never know 100 per cent who can play."
Luis Diaz has returned to training but won't feature on Saturday (Liverpool FC via Getty Images)Klopp confirmed that the game has come too soon for Colombian winger Luis Diaz despite his return to training, but Darwin Nunez is set to feature after overcoming a foot injury.
"Luis is back in small parts of training. It's fantastic to have him back, but he will not train today with us," he said.
"This week was the first step back into team training. Next week we will increase that. It looks really promising, we're in the final stages.
"Darwin couldn't train for two or three days this week, but trained yesterday. He is back in contention."
Everton chiefs face transfer backlash from fans after deadline day disaster
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
