Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Alisson Becker and Diogo Jota both remain unavailable for Liverpool’s upcoming pre-season meeting with RB Salzburg, though the former is ‘close to get back’.
It theoretically should mean that the Brazilian will be back in the first-team squad, if not the starting-XI, in time for our Community Shield meeting with Manchester City at the weekend.
“Obviously Diogo [Jota] is not here, that’s clear, but from the boys who are injured but are here, Ali is the closest – definitely not for Salzburg but then we will see. He is close to get back I think,” the German told liverpoolfc.com. “Between now and five o’clock, it’s now 2pm and between now and 5pm I will wait for messages and see who can train this afternoon properly. Then the game tomorrow, we will see.”
For the Portuguese international, things look a little less rosy, leaving the point of the forward line a direct contest between Bobby Firmino and new boy Darwin Nunez.
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It’s less than ideal to be keeping our fingers crossed for the quick recovery of our No.1, particularly with No.2 Caoimhin Kelleher’s fitness far from assured.
We’ve faith in third-choice Adrian deputising for the upcoming meeting with Pep Guardiola’s men, though the drop-off in quality simply can’t be ignored.
That’ll be less of a concern given the limited significance of the trophy up for grabs, though Jurgen Klopp will no doubt be keen on the prospect of handing the Sky Blues a bloody nose before the start of the season proper.