Jurgen Klopp eases injury concerns after Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez were substituted during Sparta Prague victory… as Liverpool boss claims the defensive duo ‘should be fine’ for huge clash with Manchester City

Ibrahima Konate’s injury is better than initially feared, after the French defender’s premature exit from Liverpool’s win over Sparta Prague sparked concerns he would be another casualty in Sunday’s title fight against Manchester United. City.

Konate asked to be substituted early in the second half of the 5-1 victory, in which Darwin Núñez scored a first-half brace to add to goals from Alexis Mac Allister, Luis Díaz and Dominik Szoboszlai in a resounding victory for the Reds.

He appeared to be holding his hamstring and in some discomfort as he walked off the pitch, leading many Liverpool fans to fear it was another injury to add to his long list ahead of the visit of the Treble winners.

But Klopp played down those fears after the match, saying it was a precautionary measure. “We don’t know,” the German said when asked if Konate will be okay over the weekend. “Ibou told me at that moment: ‘I thought if I did another sprint it might be bad.’

“So he said it should be fine, but we don’t know.” Joe Gomez was also substituted, but it was a planned change, according to Klopp. “Joey’s fine,” he said. “We eliminated him because he played a lot of games, that was rotation.”

Your browser does not support iframes.

Klopp also waxed lyrical about the two goals from Núñez, who was also the hero in Nottingham on Saturday with a 99th-minute winner. “He had an absolutely more than good first season, but he had to adapt, that’s it, “He settled in the middle of the team,” Klopp said about the Uruguayan.

“A wonderful guy, a wonderful kid. He loves playing for this team along with these bioys and to be honest, he has quality in his ears.” It’s like strikers are, they score and then they don’t score.

‘Is it at its absolute peak in general? Not for us now. But can it be developed? Yes. Is he a threat all the time? Yes. He has the most important attitude that a striker needs to have, he missed opportunities but all strikers are doing it, but he doesn’t mind and moves on.

“That’s why he now has a good number of goals, games coming up and opportunities coming up. When he’s not scoring, he’s incredibly important for us as he’s a constant threat and gives us space in areas and options.”