Jurgen Klopp reveals yet another key Liverpool injury; assesses chances of star being fit for Man City

Jurgen Klopp, Ibrahim Konate Liverpool

Ibrahima Konate could miss Sunday's showdown with Man City

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has revealed that Ibrahima Konate will need to be assessed before Sunday’s massive Premier League showdown with Manchester City over fears he may have added to the club’s injury list.

The Anfield outfit enjoyed an almost perfect evening in the Czech Republic as they crushed Sparta Prague 5-1 in the first leg of their Europa League last-16 tie at the Letna Stadion on Thursday evening.

Alexis Mac Allister put Liverpool ahead after just six minutes before Darwin Nunez grabbed a spectacular first-half brace, with Luis Diaz and Dominik Szoboszlai also on the mark in the second period.

However, everything did not go all to plan for the Reds, with centre-back Konate pulling up following a quick break from the home side and he had to be withdrawn, with Virgil van Dijk coming on in his place.

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Joe Gomez was also subbed off at half-time, although Klopp explained that decision as purely precautionary. However, the German admits Liverpool now face an anxious wait over Konate ahead of Sunday’s table-topping clash.

Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, Klopp spoke about both defenders, sayng: “With Joe [Gomez] it should be fine. Joe was not planned but it was a possibility, so we did that at half-time.

“And Ibou [Konate] we have to see. He said he thought if he keeps going then he could get injured. But we will find something there I’m pretty sure. So let’s see.”

Klopp expanded a little more in his post-match press conference, saying of the severity of Konate’s injury: “We don’t know. Ibou said to me at that moment, “I thought if I do another sprint then it could be bad”.

“So he said it should be fine but we don’t know.

“Joey is fine. We took him off because he played a lot of games, that was rotation. [Konate] said if he carried on it may be a problem so we will see.”

Nunez torments Sparta with stunning brace

As for the performance of Nunez after his brace against the Czech side, Klopp added: “A wonderful guy, wonderful boy, He loves to play for this team together with these boys and has quality coming out of his ears to be honest. It’s like strikers are, they score and then they don’t score.

“Is he at his absolute peak in general? Not now for us. But can he develop? Yes. Is he a threat all the time? Yes. He has the most important attitude a striker needs to have, he missed chances but all strikers are doing but he is not bothered by it and just keeps going.

“That’s why he now has a nice number of goals, games to come, opportunities to come. When he’s not scoring he for us is incredibly important as he is a constant threat and gives us spaces in areas and options.”

Klopp will now be keeping his fingers crossed heading into Sunday’s clash with City where a win will push his side four points clear of Pep Guardiola’s men with 10 games to go.

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Jurgen Klopp Ibrahima Konate Darwin Nuñez

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