Jurgen Klopp appears to have confirmed reports that Thiago could be out for four weeks – or even more – as he reflected on a “not cool” injury.
Ahead of the Merseyside derby win over Everton on Monday night, it emerged that Thiago would not be involved due to a hip flexor issue.
The Spaniard was absent from training in midweek, and during his pre-match press conference, the manager confirmed that he would miss out.
Soon after, reports emerged that Thiago could be sidelined for up to four weeks, which would see him miss seven games including clashes with Man United and Real Madrid.
Given his injury history, it is worth erring on the side of caution when it comes to Liverpool’s No. 6, with no return date to be pencilled in as of yet.
And in his interview with Sky Sports ahead of the 2-0 victory over Everton, Klopp admitted Thiago would be “out for a while.”
“Obviously the Thiago situation is not cool for us, he will be out for a while with a hip problem,” he explained.
“So we had to make one decision at least and so we made two.”
As Klopp noted, Thiago‘s enforced absence saw one change required in the middle of the park, and the manager ultimately turned to both Jordan Henderson and Fabinho.
The pair had not started a game for Liverpool since the 3-0 defeat to Brighton a month previous, but Klopp pointed to their performances in training as he discussed their inclusion, with Naby Keita dropping out.
“We had a long training week, obviously. We had seven sessions – so that’s long,” he said.
“Everybody could show up and they showed up.
“Fabinho had a really good training week. We all know it was not his best season so far, but in training he looked really, really good.
“So that was then clear that we bring him in, and then Hendo is always close to getting into the team.”
It is to their credit that both Henderson and Fabinho performed well on Monday night, and with Thiago now facing a long spell out Klopp is likely to retain them.
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