Red-hot Liverpool forward Diogo Jota was carried off the pitch at Brentford on Saturday as injuries continue to pile up for the Premier League leaders.
And Jurgen Klopp has proved an updated on Jota as he suggested he will be out for several months.
Klopp also lost rising star Curtis Jones to injury in the first half, Darwin Nunez came off at half time and star goalkeeper Alisson was injured on Friday in training.
With Dominik Szoboszlai, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joel Matip (he’s out for the season) missing through injury too, that’s basically half of Liverpool’s starting lineup who are now unavailable.
That’s not what you need when Liverpool are top of the Premier League table and fighting for four trophies with the League Cup final coming up next weekend, plus they’re in the last 16 of the FA Cup and Europa League too.
Latest Diogo Jota update
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday ahead of Liverpool’s game against Luton at Anfield on Wednesday, Klopp had the following to say about Jota:
“With Diogo it will obviously take months,” Klopp said when asked about the potential for Jota and Jones to be out for a longer period.
Liverpool’s manager didn’t give an exact timeline for Jota’s return but is obviously resigned to losing him until early April after the final international break of the 2023-24 season.
What happened?
Moments after Jota brilliantly set up Darwin Nunez to put Liverpool 1-0 up at Brentford he was then bizarrely caught by his own man as Alexis Mac Allister clipped him on the foot with several Brentford players nearby.
Jota then fell to the floor and as he did Brentford captain Christian Norgaard fell on top of his knee. That is the crucial part of this injury as the whack on his foot from Mac Allister wasn’t hard enough to cause concern but Jota having that kind of weight landing on his knee, as he had it extended, is the issue and it could have caused serious damage.
The sight of Jota, who has been in incredible form in recent weeks, coming off injured is not what Klopp wanted to see. Jota was seen hobbling down the tunnel at Brentford and he looked extremely uncomfortable as Liverpool wait for positive news.
Now all eyes will be on Mohamed Salah, who returned from injury as he came on to replace Jota and scored one and set up another, as Klopp will be hoping his Egyptian star can stay fit for the rest of the season.