Klopp eases injury concerns after Konate & Gomez were subbed during Prague win
Ibrahima Konate's injury is better than first feared, after the French defender’s premature exit from Liverpool’s win over Sparta Prague sparked concern that he would be another casualty for Sunday’s title tussle with Manchester City.
Konate asked to be substituted early in the second half of the 5-1 win, in which Darwin Nunez scored a first-half brace to add to Alexis Mac Allister, Luis Diaz and Dominik Szoboszlai goals in a thumping victory for the Reds.
He appeared to be holding his hamstring and in some discomfort as he walked off the field, causing many Liverpool fans to worry he would be another injury to add to their long list ahead of the visit of the Treble winners.
But Klopp played down those fears after the game, saying it was a precautionary move. ‘We don’t know,’ said the German when asked if Konate will be OK for the weekend. ‘Ibou said to me at the moment, “I thought if I do another sprint then it could be bad”.
‘So he said it should be fine but we don’t know.’ Joe Gomez was also substituted but that was a planned change, according to Klopp. ‘Joey is fine,’ he said. ‘We took him off because he played a lot of games, that was rotation.’
Klopp also waxed lyrical about two-goal Nunez, who was also the hero in Nottingham on Saturday with a 99th-minute winner. ‘He had absolutely more than OK first season but he had to adapt, that’s done, settled in the middle of the team,’ said Klopp on the Uruguayan.
‘Wonderful guy, wonderful boy, He loves to play for this team together with these bioys and has quality coming out of his ears to be honest. It’s like strikers are, they score and then they don’t score.
‘Is he at his absolute peak in general? Not now for us. But can he develop? Yes. Is he a threat all the time? Yes. He
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