Jurgen Klopp is hopeful Naby Keita’s injury isn’t too serious and said the Guinean was withdrawn as a precaution.
Keita appeared to jolt after miscontrolling a ball in midfield – and was walking gingerly for a few minutes afterwards during the 5-5 draw with Arsenal which we eventually won on penalties.
The boss took him off and he looked glum as he headed to the bench – although that could’ve been a result of his drab performance.
Fans were expecting big things after Keita performed well in Belgium v Genk, but the reality was he was mostly invisible in midfield and outmuscled by Arsenal’s youngsters.
“If Naby’s injury is not so serious, which I hope, then it was a nearly perfect night,” Jürgen Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com.
“He felt a little bit. I saw it, he slipped when he lost the ball. He slipped away, I saw him limping afterwards and that’s why we did it.”
There was a sadly familiar feeling about the manner in which Keita exited the field after a failure to show us his true ability.
His talent is unquestionable, but there’s only so many times this can be used as an excuse for his nothing performances.
We actually think his outing v Genk was overhyped by fans desperate to see Keita do well – as we do – but what he offered v Arsenal is probably evidence why Klopp currently doesn’t use him as part of his starting XI.
Still, we have a massive run of fixtures coming up, and we really hope Keita is fit so he can contribute. He would have been a shoo-in to start next week v Genk at Anfield, for example, but imagine he now faces a race against time to get ready for that one.