MY ACCOUNT
Liverpool face a nervous wait to discover if Diogo Jota is set for another injury absence, with Jurgen Klopp fearing a recurrence of the forward’s hamstring problems.
Jota sat out the Reds’ first game of their pre-season tour, as a heavily rotated side went down 4-0 to Manchester United in Bangkok.
The Champions League finalists have now flown on to Singapore for their next friendly, against Crystal Palace on Friday, but they are set to be without the Portugal attacker again.
Jota originally injured his hamstring while with Portugal during the international break in June, and Klopp speculated that the issue has been aggravated upon his return to training on Wednesday.
“Diogo is unlucky,” Klopp told Liverpool’s website. “Diogo was not involved [against United] because of an injury he got at the end of his season.
“He trained yesterday fully and got injured again, so that’s really not cool. But we have to wait for the results. He had further assessments this morning, so we have to see.”
Jota is not the only player who looks poised to miss the clash with Patrick Vieira’s side, with Alisson a doubt.
“Ali was not 100 per cent, he finished the session earlier, was doing the warm-up and felt something, so now there we have to wait as well,” Klopp added.
While Klopp’s heavy rotation against United did not prove conducive to the final result, it nevertheless banked crucial minutes for several squad members, with 32 players used in all in Thailand.
Klopp hinted at a similar approach for Palace, adding: “Some might get 45 minutes tomorrow, we have to see, but again it’s the period of the year where we have to be really careful with different things.
“These are our footballers, these are the only boys we have. We have a lot of them, but these are the only ones we have, so we have to take care, and we bring them in the best possible situation.”
