The Liverpool Injury List/Team News is so long these days that we need to split it off into two pieces. I mean the bandwidth needed to cover all the walking wounded in detail, hey, we don’t want to crash your servers! In this edition, we cover Diogo Jota, Alisson Becker, Ryan Gravenberch and more.
Here is the link to the first edition, ahead of the UEFA Europa League round of 16, leg one of two, clash against AC Sparta Prague.
Liverpool FC at Sparta Praha FYIs
Kickoff: Thurs. Mar. 7, 5:45pm, epet ARENA, Prague, Czech Republic
Competition: UEFA Europa League Round of 16 Leg 1/2
Liverpool Preview Content: Starting XI Prediction Team News 1 Team News 2
Transatlantic Passage: How the Premier League Redefined Soccer in America: LINK
Fun Fact: Liverpool are winless in their last 11 (D4L7) away legs of two-legged Europa League ties.
Reds Team News
Let’s start with the Brazilian goalkeeper; Alisson (hamstring) is out until at least some time in mid-April.
“There is no real timescale on it, but it is a proper muscle injury,” Klopp articulated.
“Different players recover differently. That is it pretty much. It is not a short one. It is not that he will be in contention for next week or something like that. We have to wait a few more weeks, definitely, for him.
“He is working in the gym, not on the pitch. It is a rather serious one but not a season-ending injury.”
With regards to Jota, he was diagnosed with a medial collateral ligament injury in his knee, and he won’t be back until some time in April.
“It’s a ligament injury, could have been much worse, but bad enough for being ruled out for this game, next game,” Klopp said the last time he spoke on the Portugese forward’s condition; which was last week.
“We will see. So, we need miracles with a few players, so that’s why I don’t want to rule out for too long.”
That is definitely true- the Merseyside club certainly does need miracles with a few players right now, not just Jota. One guy who has been persistently injured is Stefan Bajcetic. He has a chronic calf problem.
“He’s obviously gaining fitness now… he didn’t get a green light yet for us for the team training,” Klopp said of the youngster.
“He’s pain-free, completely pain-free, which is obviously the most important thing. All checks we made, like scans again, bone looks good, that’s all fine and he’s just doing the stuff he’s doing.”
Elsewhere Ryan Gravenberch is recovering from his ankle injury, and although he won’t be available on Thursday, he might be in contention for Sunday against Manchester City.
Finally, Ben Doak (lateral meniscus tear) is out indefinitely, and perhaps done for the season.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to Ravens Wire, part of the USA Today SMG’s NFL Wire Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and the Washington Times. You can follow him on Twitter.