Jurgen Klopp provides fitness update on Harvey Elliott and Luis Diaz following Liverpool’s ‘unenjoyable’ defeat to Lyon
Jurgen Klopp has admitted he ‘didn’t enjoy’ Liverpool’s 3-1 defeat to Lyon earlier today and confirmed that Darwin Nunez will return to Liverpool training tomorrow for the first time since Uruguay were knocked out of the World Cup.
The Reds could’ve done with the firepower of their £64m against the Ligue 1 outfit as the FA Cup champions, who were 1-0 up inside 40 seconds, threw away their lead in what was a disappointing afternoon.
“Mr Blanc asked me to be quick with the press conference,” Klopp said (as quoted by the Metro). “The weather and facilities are top here, only thing I didn’t enjoy was the result.
“Darwin Nunez will join us tomorrow, the others we see them in England again.”
The performance is always more important than the result when playing a friendly and there were certainly some positives to take from the first half.
One of the negatives, however, was the fact that Harvey Elliott appeared to pick up a knock during the early stages and was brought off just before the half hour mark.
“Harvey got a knock before we scored,” he added. “Harvey got a knock. But I think we were lucky.
“He looks fine now but he feels it, that’s normal, there was contact. But I hope we were lucky in that moment.”
Klopp also touched on the ‘proper smash in the face’ news that Luis Diaz has suffered a setback in his recovery from a knee injury.
The Colombian hasn’t featured since coming off during the defeat to Arsenal in October and it’s now expected that he’ll be out of action until March.
The former Porto man has been terrific ever since joining the club in January and his absence has been felt in recent weeks.
“Yeah, he was not in the best possible place,” Klopp said. “It’s clear it’s a big disappointment for all of us, for him as well.
“It was a non-situation in training, honestly – nothing, felt something. [He] didn’t feel a lot next day but we wanted to be really cautious and said, ‘OK, come on, let’s have a look’.
“Yeah, then the news came and it was a proper smash in the face. But that’s it now.”
Naby Keita featured during the second half of today’s clash in what was his first performance since the Community Shield defeat of Manchester City in July.
Meanwhile, Diogo Jota is still sidelined and won’t be back in action until February.
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