Liverpool FC suffered a further blow to an already depleted first-team squad ahead of the Premier League champions’ visit to the Johan Cryuff Arena for the Champions League opener against Ajax, with the duo of Thiago Alcantara and Joel Matip being ruled out of the upcoming fixture.
Both players had started Liverpool FC’s 2-2 draw over the weekend in the Merseyside derby, however, reports had suggested that the pair had sustained minor injury niggles following the Goodison Park showdown.
In his pre-match talk, Klopp confirmed that Matip will play no part in the Champions League game against the Dutch outfit and that Thiago, the club’s new recruit this summer, will also be sidelined from the first-team action.
“We have a lot of players here but some not and Joel is one of the players we have not here,” said Klopp at his pre-match press conference.
“So, it was always clear after the history he had that it’s not likely he will start again after the 90 minutes at Everton. Now we left him at home but there’s a good chance that he could be involved at the weekend again.”
“Thiago is not here, everybody knows that because you watch us travelling. I don’t know how long that will take; how I said, two players suffering from the weekend – Thiago and Virgil. And Joel, but for different reasons.
While Thiago came off second best in a very rash tackle from Everton’s Richarlison, Matip’s exclusion from the travelling party to Holland indicates that Jurgen Klopp is in no mood to take any major risk ahead of a gruelling fixture list for the Anfield giants.
The Reds were already without Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker for the Ajax clash, and now Klopp is widely tipped to field Fabinho as a makeshift centre-back alongside Joe Gomez, who had not started the last game against Everton but had taken Van Dijk’s spot on the pitch following the Dutchman’s injury.
