Jurgen Klopp has revealed that Diogo Jota suffered an injury “around the ankle ligament” in Liverpool’s Uefa Champions League last-16 victory away at Inter Milan.
The Reds were far from perfect against an Inter side which looked dangerous at times, but they held their own in the San Siro and took the ascendancy towards the end of the second half with goals from Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah to clinch a 2-0 first-leg win.
Substitute Firmino had come on for the injured Jota at half-time and, alongside Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita and Luis Diaz, was one of four changes who helped the Reds win a game which at times they seemed more likely to lose. Klopp’s men have now won all seven of their fixtures in this season’s Champions League.
Jota was an unexpected half-time withdrawal in Milan and Klopp and discussed the injury the Portuguese suffered after the match.
“I’m really happy with everything, apart from that Diogo had to go off with something around the ankle ligament,” the German said. “We will see, we don’t know exactly. He could have played on, maybe that’s a good sign, but at half-time, the ankle was swollen anyway so we knew we had to change.”
In something of a rarity for Klopp, Liverpool have boasted a fully fit and available squad since Salah and Sadio Mane returned from international duty at the Africa Cup of Nations. Any extended absence for Jota now would be a significant blow, with the 25-year-old having scored 17 goals in 32 appearances so far this campaign.
Klopp also lauded the Reds for their performance in a “physical” encounter in northern Italy and declared they were “deserved” winners.
“It was an incredibly physical game so we had to find a way. We didn’t have a brilliant day but a good enough day to be deserved winners because we scored two wonderful goals. They had their moments, but mainly counter-attacks when we lost the ball in the wrong spaces.”
The return leg takes place at Anfield on 8 March, with the Reds strong favourites to progress to the quarter-finals.
