Jurgen Klopp has explained why Andy Robertson, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah were all left out of the Liverpool squad at Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup.
The Reds take on Forest in the quarter-finals of the cup on Sunday evening, looking to join Crystal Palace, Chelsea and Man City in the final four.
Klopp made seven changes to his starting lineup for the trip to the City Ground, with Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho and Diogo Jota the only players retained from midweek.
Three players to drop out from the matchday squad were Robertson, Mane and Salah, with the manager revealing to ITV that the left-back was absent due to illness.
“Robbo is ill,” he explained, “it finally got him as well.”
Whether this rules Robertson out of Scotland’s upcoming friendlies against Poland and one of Austria or Wales remains to be seen, though it is safe to say Klopp will be hoping that is the case.
Meanwhile, Salah was not risked after suffering a minor recurrence of his knee injury in the 2-0 win over Arsenal, with Klopp mindful of the World Cup playoffs between Egypt and Mane’s Senegal on March 25 and 29.
“Mo felt the injury a little bit, another knock, so it was clear that we don’t take risks,” he continued.
“Then it was clear we don’t take Sadio. We have the opportunity to give them the rest they need, because they have two massive games coming up.”
Also absent from the City Ground was Caoimhin Kelleher, overlooked for a starting spot as Alisson took the gloves for the cup, though no explanation has been made for his omission so far.
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