Liverpool have been dealt a huge blow ahead of their Champions League semi-final second leg against Barcelona with the news that Mohamed Salah will be absent due to a concussion.
The 26-year-old suffered a nasty head injury in a challenge with Martin Dubravka during the second half of Liverpool’s 3-2 win over Newcastle on Saturday evening and had to be stretchered off with Divock Origi taking his place.
Due to the nature of Salah’s injury, there were concerns that he would be unavailable to feature against Barcelona at Anfield on Tuesday and in his pre-match press conference ahead of the game, Klopp confirmed that would be the case.
Speaking to reporters, Klopp said: ‘It’s concussion so he wouldn’t be allowed to play. We cannot do it.
‘He feels OK, but it is not good enough from a medical point of view. That’s all. He’s desperate, everything, but we can’t do it.’
Liverpool already face an uphill battle to reach a second successive Champions League final as they trail Barcelona 3-0 from the first-leg after goals from Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi (2) put the La Liga champions in a commanding position.
Salah’s absence is further exacerbated by Roberto Firmino’s injury with the Brazilian also having been ruled out of the game due to a muscle problem. Firmino was injured on the eve of Liverpool’s game with Huddersfield last week and wasn’t involved against Newcastle.
On the task facing Liverpool without two-thirds of their regular front three, Klopp said: ‘Two of the world best strikers are not available tomorrow night and we have to score four goals.
‘It doesn’t make life easier but as long as we have 11 players on the pitch we will try.’
Daniel Sturridge has started Liverpool’s previous two Premier League matches while Origi and Xherdan Shaqiri made key contributions off the bench during the win over Newcastle, the former scoring the winning goal from the latter’s assist.
In better news for Liverpool and Klopp, both Salah and Firmino are expected to recover from their respective knocks in time to face Wolves in the final Premier League match of the season at Anfield on Sunday.
