Ibrahima Konate looks set to miss both Liverpool’s League Cup trip to Man City and their Premier League return against Aston Villa as France close in on reaching back-to-back World Cup finals.
Les Bleus are in semi-final action against Morocco on Wednesday night, with a potential final clash with Argentina awaiting on Sunday 18 December. But even if they suffer a shock defeat to the African nation, the Frenchman is unlikely to feature in the Reds’ next two games.
Defeat to Morocco would see France instead face Croatia in the third-place play-off on Saturday 17 December, in what would be a repeat of the 2018 World Cup final. And with Jurgen Klopp promising his World Cup stars at least week off after their international exploits, Konate is certain to miss out against Man City and is highly unlikely to face Aston Villa on Boxing Day too as a result.
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“We will stay here a few more days, we have another game and it is all good,” Klopp said after facing Lyon in the Dubai Super Cup last Sunday. “Darwin Nunez will join us tomorrow and then the others, we will see in England again, everyone has a week off after the World Cup.”
Nunez would return to training on Tuesday, having suffered a group-stage exit with Uruguay at the World Cup. As a result, he was afforded 10 days off before taking to the training pitches with the Reds.
Meanwhile, Jordan Henderson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Alisson Becker and Fabinho are likely to return to training on Monday 19 December following eight/nine days of rest after suffering quarter-final exits with England, the Netherlands and Brazil respectively.
If we take a week off to mean exactly seven days from time of exit, the latter trio are due back on Friday 16 December with the England pair set to follow on Saturday 17 December, but considering Liverpool are still in Dubai at such a time, playing against AC Milan on the Friday before flying back to Merseyside over the weekend, you’d imagine a return to team training would perhaps instead follow at the start of next week.
With Liverpool back in competitive action against Man City on Thursday 22 December, just four days after the World Cup final, Konate is certain to miss that match. Meanwhile, Pep Guardiola’s men will be without Julian Alvarez after his brace helped Argentina beat Croatia 3-0 to book their place in the final.
A week on from the third-place play-off takes us to Christmas Eve, with Christmas Day falling a week after the final. Take into consideration any potential celebratory homecoming in France should they win the World Cup, and the breaks his fellow Liverpool World Cup stars were afforded, and Konate is very unlikely to link back up with the Reds until after their Boxing Day trip to Aston Villa having missed all of their pre-match preparations.
Klopp’s men are next in action after their trip to Villa Park against Leicester City on Friday 30 December, with such a game far more feasible for the defender to make his return in.
However, after last season’s Africa Cup of Nations final, Mohamed Salah made a playing return as a substitute against Leicester City after just four days with Sadio Mane starting at Burnley a week on from Senegal’s victory over Egypt, if the 23-year-old did wish to report straight back for duty at the expense of a post-World Cup break.
Villa are also set to be without a star player when they host Liverpool though, with Emiliano Martinez almost certain to start for Argentina in Sunday’s World Cup final. If he does indeed miss out as a result of his international exploits, former Everton loanee Robin Olsen is set to take his place.
Konate has featured in all three of France’s group-stage matches, starting two and coming on as a substitute in the other, but has been left unused on the bench for their knockout stages victories over Poland and England.
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