Jurgen Klopp explains why Mohamed Salah couldn't start for Liverpool against Man City
Ibrahima Konate misses out for Liverpool against Manchester City as Mohamed Salah starts on the bench at Anfield.
Konate pulled out in the early stages of the second half in Thursday's 5-1 hammering Sparta Prague in the last-16 of Europa League and has not made the squad for the match this afternoon. Jarell Quansah starts in his place alongside captain Virgil van Dijk.
Joe Gomez starts on the left side of defence with Andy Robertson on the bench alongside fellow left-back Kostas Tsimikas with Conor Bradley beginning the game on the right.
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Liverpool line-ups for Man City as Mohamed Salah on bench and Ibrahima Konate decision made
Harvey Elliott deputises for Salah on the right of the front three with Darwin Nunez leading the line and Luis Diaz flanking the left.
Wataru Endo continues as the holding midfielder with Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai in the two 'No.8' roles further forward.
The absence of Konate means Jurgen Klopp is without as many as 10 first-team players for the crucial showdown with City. Alisson Becker, Joel Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones, Ryan Gravenberch, Thiago Alcantara, Diogo Jota, Ben Doak and Stefan Bajcetic are all also unavailable.
On Salah, Liverpool boss Klopp insisted the Reds "didn't consider" using him from the start after his recent injury problems.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: "We didn't even think about him starting the game. We can learn. Not that Mo came back too early last time, he was a little bit unlucky with the setback but you can imagine, we have talked about that with Mo. It was not his or me idea to start him today. It will be an intense game and we can bring him on, which is super
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