Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Anfield midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum will miss the Reds’ Club World Cup opener.
A number of Liverpool fans have taken to Twitter to comment on the club announcement regarding Georginio Wijnaldum’s fitness ahead of the Reds’ Club World Cup campaign getting under way at Qatar’s Khalifa International Stadium.
Wijnaldum has travelled with the Liverpool squad to Doha, where he is continuing his recovery from a hamstring injury which saw him forced off in the second half of the Premier League victory over Watford at the weekend.
On Tuesday afternoon, the Anfield club confirmed in an update on their website and social media that the Netherlands ace will not feature against Monterrey on Wednesday.
Speaking at his pre-match press conference, Reds boss Jurgen Klopp said: “Gini was not as serious as we thought in the first moment, so he’s here doing the first recovery and then we have stuff what is necessary. So we will see day by day but for tomorrow night he’s not involved.”
Here is some of the reaction from the Liverpool fanbase on social media regarding Wijnaldum not being available for the Monterrey clash:
On a more positive note, Klopp did also state that Virgil van Dijk is not currently dealing with any issue, despite not training with the squad in Doha on Monday evening.
The Reds head coach told reporters: “Virgil is fine. We had to do different stuff for recovery for different people, so that was the reason why he was not involved yesterday in the session, but Virgil is fine. All the rest of the squad is fine.”
Wijnaldum has been at Liverpool since July 2016, when he joined from Newcastle United in a £25milion deal (BBC Sport), and has made 163 appearances for the Reds, scoring 16 goals and claiming 16 assists (Transfermarkt).
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