Liverpool fans fear the worst after it was confirmed Alisson Becker would miss at least the next week of action, meaning he will be absent for the Champions League showdown with Atletico Madrid. Jurgen Klopp confirmed the injury his goalkeeper picked up ahead of the Chelsea clash will see him miss Bournemouth this weekend and the European game.
And fans are worried that could hamper their chances of progression in the Champions League.
Alisson’s replacement Adrian dropped a clanger against Chelsea in the FA Cup this week, and fans are not confident going into the Atletico game.
Liverpool trail the Spaniards after the meeting in Madrid thanks to Saul Niguez’s early goal.
And they meet again this Wednesday at Anfield with Liverpool needing to overturn the deficit to continue their defence of the Champions League.
Defeat would all but end their season with the Premier League title essentially wrapped up and the Chelsea defeat seeing them knocked out of the FA Cup last week.
“Unfortunately Ali is out,” Klopp said today.
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“He had a little incident in training before the Chelsea game. We all thought it was nothing and it was clear he would not play anyway, the plan was he was on the bench.
“There, we thought, ‘Come on, we don’t have to take any risks’ so left him out of the squad. [There was a] scan the next day and they found something. So now he is out. We will see – next week [out], for sure, and then we will see.”
And when quizzed specifically on the Atletico game, Klopp said: “No, next week not [available].
“I don’t want to say no [for the Merseyside derby] but I don’t know if he will be available. He is not available for the next week, not for tomorrow and not the next week.
“Then we have to judge the situation new. I would say after the international break he is back 100 per cent, whatever we can get before that we will see.”
And Liverpool fans responded with exacerbation.
“WHATS ACTUALLY HAPPENING RIGHT NOWWWW!!” one wrote.
Another said: “Isn’t the news I needed right now tbh.”
Another called on Adrian to make the step up, by saying: “Adrian wake up now. Save us points.”
While another stated: “I wanna die.”
Liverpool are going through their toughest period of the season having lost three of their last four in all competitions.
However they are still 22 points clear in the Premier League and need just 12 points – or City to drop more points – to wrap the title up.
With City facing both Manchester United and Arsenal this week the title could come even sooner, despite the defeat to Watford last week.
And Liverpool are now concentrating on getting back on top against Atletico in the European tie.
They face Bournemouth on Saturday in the early kick off, and remain without Jordan Henderson and Xherdan Shaqiri but Naby Keita is back in training.