Jurgen Klopp admits the decision to leave out Sadio Mane from Liverpool's FA Cup win over Nottingham Forest was taken so his team selection would not be "misunderstood" in Africa ahead of the international break.
Mane's Senegal go up against Mohamed Salah's Egypt later this month in a crucial World Cup qualifier as the two Africa Cup of Nations finalists meet once more.
Mane played no part of the 1-0 win at the City Ground despite being cleared to feature as Diogo Jota's goal settled a hard-fought tie the way of the visitors to set up a semi-final with Manchester City.
Salah's foot injury that he picked up in the Brighton game on March 12 kept the 28-goal top scorer out of the FA Cup tie and with Egypt set to go head-to-head with Senegal in a two-legged qualifier in the next nine days, Klopp said the call to omit Mane was done in the interest of fairness on the international stage.
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"So Mo felt his foot again from the Brighton game," Klopp said after the game at the City Ground. "It wasn't a massive problem but it was clear that he would not play in a game like this. He felt [his foot] a little bit here and there.
"So there was no chance for him to play and then at that moment, it was clear that we would not use Sadio in the game either because the game is too big in Africa and I would not be the one to be doing things like this that could be misunderstood.
"The others were all unavailable as was Mo. It was only Sadio who was."
Liverpool will collide with City on the weekend of April 16 at Wembley as a jam-packed month of massive games sees another sizable fixture added to it.
Klopp added: "So now we have Watford, Benfica, Man City, Benfica, Man City, Manchester United, Everton.
"From a Liverpool perspective, these are all massive games and we try to play them one at a time.
"We knew before the game that City would be the opponent but we wanted to go to the final anyway. So now here we go.
"The further we go in each competition, the more likely it is we will play City and it is more likely for them that they will play us.
"I don't think we are the dream draw for anyone but it will be a tough one. We have to make sure we will be tough for City as well, but there are a lot of games to play before that."
