Diogo Jota has handed Liverpool an injury scare after undergoing scans on a suspected recurrence of a hamstring problem.
Jota had tests on Thursday morning in Singapore after hurting himself during the Reds’ training session in the country the previous evening. And there is a fear the striker could again have damaged the hamstring he injured when on international duty with Portugal during the summer.
Jota was one of several senior players to only return for pre-season training last weekend when joining up for the ongoing tour of the Far East. With Liverpool mindful of his fitness, the 25-year-old didn’t take full part in open training on Monday in Bangkok and was absent from the 4-0 friendly defeat to Manchester United the following day.
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And revealing Jota’s latest setback, Reds boss Jurgen Klopp said on Thursday: “Diogo, unlucky eh? Diogo was not involved against United because he had an injury from the end of last season.
“He trained yesterday fully and got injured again. That’s really not cool. We have to wait for the results and he had an assessment this morning. Then we have to see. Is it his hamstring? We will see. It is in the same region.”
Jota is now out of Friday’s friendly against Crystal Palace at the Singapore National Stadium, with Alisson Becker also a doubt for the fixture.
“Ali was not 100% in the session earlier, so we have to wait,” said the Reds boss. “He finished the session earlier then he felt something when warming up. I think pretty much all the others are fine.”
Klopp fielded three outfield teams for 30 minutes each during the defeat to United, but is expected to give more action to some players against Palace.
“Some might get 45 minutes, we have to see,” he said. “It’s a period of the year where we have to be really careful with things. We have to take care of them.”
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