Liverpool winger Luis Diaz faces a longer spell on the sidelines and Jurgen Klopp has admitted that the news is a real ‘smash in the face’.
The Reds were in action this afternoon as they took on Lyon in the Dubai Super Cup.
These are glorified friendlies but it’s all preparation ahead of Liverpool’s return to Premier League action on Boxing Day.
Fabio Carvalho opened the scoring for Liverpool after just a minute but that’s as good as it got for Klopp’s men.
Alexandre Lacazette scored either side of Bradley Barcola’s goal to give Lyon a 3-1 win before the French side also won 5-3 on penalties.
Just why this tournament has a penalty shootout after every game is beyond us but it just added another source of frustration for Liverpool.
Liverpool winger Luis Diaz suffers injury setback
Klopp will at least be delighted with the goal from Carvalho, especially with the summer signing utilised on the left flank against Lyon.
This is particularly important because of Luis Diaz’s injury setback.
The Colombian winger suffered a knee injury against Arsenal back in October and was only just building up his fitness again.
Yet Diaz has now suffered a setback and may now miss another couple of months in a major blow for Liverpool.
Klopp has now been asked about Diaz’s injury situation and it’s clear that this news has hit the Liverpool boss hard.
Klopp has told the Liverpool Echo that Diaz’s injury has come as a ‘big disappointment’ to everyone at Liverpool.
The German added that Diaz’s injury was a ‘non situation’ with Diaz seemingly suffering his injury setback in innocuous circumstances.
Klopp noted that people ‘heard something’ go with Diaz and the verdict that he will now be out for a while is a ‘proper smash in the face’ for the Reds.
This was supposed to be a great season for Diaz having shown so much quality in the second half of last season following his move from Porto.
Instead, Diaz may already be thinking about the impact he can make next season with injuries causing major problems.
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