Soccer

Jürgen Klopp admits Roberto Firmino could miss Barcelona first leg

Striker suffered slight tear to a groin muscle in training and missed Huddersfield win

Roberto Firmino suffered a slight tear to a groin muscle in training on Thursday and missed Liverpool’s victory over Huddersfield Town. Photograph: Stu Forster/Getty Images

Andy Hunter at Anfield
Sat Apr 27 2019 - 01:35

Liverpool's return to the top of the Premier League was tempered by Jürgen Klopp's admission that Roberto Firmino could miss Wednesday's Champions League semi-final, first leg against Barcelona through injury.

The influential Brazil international was absent from the 5-0 rout of Huddersfield after suffering a slight tear to a groin muscle in training on Thursday. Klopp indicated it was only a minor problem before kick-off, although conceded afterwards that Firmino is a doubt for the first leg at the Camp Nou.

“Bobby trained yesterday completely normal,” the Liverpool manager explained. “It was not high intensity and I didn’t see it in training, it happened obviously in the last situation in training when he felt the muscle a little bit. Now that’s the official diagnosis, he has a small tear in a very small muscle – apart from the word ‘tear’ everything is positive.

“It’s Bobby so he might be ready for Wednesday but we don’t know obviously in the moment. But because it’s him it’s more likely than not but we will see. Of all the badness you can get it’s pretty much the best but it’s still bad enough that he couldn’t play tonight.”

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Virgil van Dijk also suffered a foot problem against Huddersfield but was able to continue. “He would have been immediately off but he said ‘all good’,” added Klopp.

Victory took Liverpool to 91 points for the season while Mohamed Salah marked his 100th appearance for the club with his 68th and 69th goals. His manager said Liverpool could savour making history this season regardless of where the Premier League title resides.

“We said we wanted to create our own history. That’s what we try and that’s what the boys did, that’s what Mo Salah did again tonight, and with the points tally we have,” Klopp said. “These boys are outstanding, that’s the reason why we are where we are. Now let’s carry on and we will see where it ends.” – Guardian

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