Florian Wirtz injury: What Andoni Iraola said after 23y/o hobbled off during Liverpool win

Liverpool’s 2-0 win over Brighton on Sunday was tempered by an injury to Florian Wirtz just before the midway point of the second half.

The 23-year-old required treatment on the pitch and was substituted for Trey Nyoni in the 65th minute with a suspected ankle problem.

It was the German’s shot that Pascal Gross diverted into his team’s net for the Reds’ opening goal in the first half, with our number 7 enjoying another influential performance before he was forced off later in the afternoon.

What did Iraola say on Wirtz injury?

After the match, Andoni Iraola provided an update on the injury to Wirtz, with the head coach confident that it’s not a major issue but also preaching caution given the tight turnaround between fixtures.

The Basque said (via liverpoolfc.com): “Unfortunately, he had to leave the pitch with a small twist of the ankle. It doesn’t look very big but we are playing every three days, so we need to see where he is.“

Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust

Hopefully Wirtz will be OK to face Arsenal

With Iraola likely to shuffle the pack for the Carabao Cup tie against Chelsea on Wednesday, it’d make little sense to play Wirtz so soon after twisting his ankle. Even had he not been injured yesterday, we suspect he’d have been one of those removed from the starting XI in midweek.

It’d be much more beneficial to look towards next weekend’s huge Premier League showdown against Arsenal as a potential return date for the 23-year-old, in the hope that the problem will have subsided by then.

The German had been much maligned by the wider public over the past few months but has been enjoying some strong performances in recent games, with Liverpool Echo reporter Ian Doyle hailing an ‘excellent’ display against Villarreal last week (in which he scored).

The same journalist praised Wirtz’s efforts before going off against Brighton yesterday, writing that our nmber 7 was ‘dangerous whenever in possession, found good pockets [and] used [the] ball well’ (Liverpool Echo), in additon to bringing about the first goal.

Fingers crossed for good news on the ex-Bayer Leverkusen man over the coming days, and that he’ll be cleared to play when Arsenal rumble into town next Sunday.