Jurgen Klopp has allayed fears of serious injury to key Liverpool duo Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk – but admits he faces a selection headache at Southampton next week.
Salah limped off after barely half-an hour of Saturday’s dramatic penalty shoot-out FA Cup final win over Chelsea when feeling a problem in his groin, while Van Dijk lasted until 90 minutes having complaining of a twinge in his knee.
“But the next game is on Tuesday and that’s obviously pretty quick. I think they both will be fine. We have training on Sunday morning, and I’d be surprised (if they were fine then) but I’d take it. We will see.”
Klopp explained: “We had to change Mo early, which was not cool, but it was my decision. It was a precaution. Mo said ‘I can feel something but I can carry on’ and I said ‘nah, no’. A football game is not a perfect physiotherapist, it rarely gets better during a game.
“Then Virg stands with me and says ‘I feel something but it’s fine I think’ so we made a decision together that he stays on. But it was clear when we don’t finish the game in 90 minutes, he had to go off.
“Then you can bring on Diogo Jota and Joel Matip in this moment, that’s the best situation I have ever been in as a coach. That’s absolutely outstanding. That’s why we had the chance to go for it. It was difficult, we know that. It was lucky, we know that. But we deserved it as well, it’s really cool.
Both are now unlikely to feature in Tuesday’s Premier League trip to the St Mary’s where the Reds, having completed the domestic cup double for a second time, aim to take the title battle with Manchester City down to the final weekend.
But the Reds boss is confident the duo have no lasting damage with the Champions League final against Real Madrid on May 28 on the horizon.
“Obviously I spoke to both after the game and both are really okay,” said Klopp. “All that we know is that it’s not a big thing we really came through.
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