Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is left sweating over two injury concerns after the Reds’ 4-0 defeat to Manchester United on Tuesday in Thailand.
Portuguese international forward Diogo Jota was not used in the game after suffering a hamstring injury while on duty with Portugal last month and Liverpool are anxious that the former Wolverhampton Wanderers man has had a recurrence of the injury in training on Wednesday ahead of a friendly with Premier League rivals Crystal Palace on Friday.
Klopp left Jota out of the defeat with United as he continues his recovery to full fitness, but now the German boss admits he is concerned after the forward has potentially re-injured himself in training.
“So, Diogo is unlucky,” said Klopp at his press conference. “Diogo was not involved [against United] because of an injury he got at the end of his season.
“He trained yesterday [Wednesday] fully and got injured again, so that’s really not cool but we have to wait for the results. He had further assessment this morning so we have to see.”
Replying to a question about if Jota had again damaged his hamstring, Klopp replied: “We will see. The same region, yes.”
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Brazilian goalkeeper Alisson, who did feature against United, also has a fitness concern heading into Friday’s friendly with Palace. The 29-year-old, who has played 136 Premier League games for the Reds in the last four years, saw his training session on Wednesday cut short after picking up a knock in the warm-up.
Klopp added: “Ali was not 100 per cent, he finished the session earlier, was doing the warming up and felt something so now there we have to wait as well. I think pretty much all the others are fine, so that’s it.”
Liverpool’s meeting with Palace, which is taking place in Kallang, Singapore, kicks off at 1:35pm (UK time) and is the second of their five pre-season friendlies this summer.
The Reds then head to mainland Europe for away trips to RB Leipzig and Red Bull Salzburg before hosting French side Strasbourg at Anfield in their final friendly on Sunday, July 31.
Summer signings Darwin Nunez and Fabio Carvalho, who joined the Reds this summer from Benfica and Fulham respectively, both made their debuts during the defeat to United on Tuesday.
Klopp’s side will get their 2022/23 Premier League campaign underway on Saturday, August 6 against last season’s Championship winners Fulham at Craven Cottage.
