Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed that three of his attackers sustained fresh injuries in their agonising 4-3 loss to Manchester United in the FA Cup.
The Reds travelled to Old Trafford for the quarter-finals still capable of winning an extraordinary quadruple in Klopp’s farewell season, having already hoisted the EFL Cup trophy aloft less than a month ago.
Klopp’s crop were on course for another Wembley sojourn midway through the tie, as Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah’s quickfire strikes turned the quarter-final around after Scott McTominay’s opener.
The visitors were the dominant force as the clock ticked down in the second half, but they failed to convert their supremacy into goals and were stunned by Antony’s 87th-minute equaliser, just the Brazilian’s second goal of the season.
The chaos continued in the additional 30 minutes, as Harvey Elliott’s long-range effort propelled Liverpool back into the lead, only for Marcus Rashford – who had missed a golden chance at the end of normal time, albeit one that would have been ruled out for offside – to peg the Reds back again.
Penalties were looming at the Theatre of Dreams, but with 120 minutes on the clock, the seldom-seen Amad Diallo managed to pick out the far corner to send the home crowd into raptures, although he was sent off for a second bookable offence after taking his shirt off.
Liverpool did not have sufficient time to make their numerical advantage count, though, as Erik ten Hag’s men snatched a semi-final place from the jaws of elimination, and when it rained it poured for the Reds.
Already without eight players due to injury, Klopp revealed to ITV Sport that Luis Diaz, Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez had all sustained issues of undetermined severity ahead of the international break.
“Lucho [Diaz] felt his groin, Darwin hamstring. Cody twisted his ankle. They play again in four or five days, it’s crazy. Hopefully we will finish the season in style. I really feel for our people,” Klopp said. “Now the boys go on international duty, we hope they come back healthy.”
The trio join Diogo Jota, Ben Doak, Joel Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Alisson Becker, Stefan Bajcetic, Ibrahima Konate and Curtis Jones in the infirmary, although the latter two could return immediately after the international hiatus.
Despite the gut-wrenching manner of Sunday’s loss and Liverpool’s failure to make the most of their dominance, Klopp labelled his side’s second-half performance “absolutely exceptional”.
“United had the clear best start, it was obvious, they scored the early goal. We had to organise ourselves a little bit better, we struggled with the man-marking, didn’t play enough, all these kinds of things,” the German added.
“In the moment when we found for the first time a way to play then we get rhythm and then it looked really good. Then we were absolutely deserved 2-1 up. And second half was exceptional, absolutely exceptional what we played here.
“But we didn’t finish the game off and when you leave the door open away from home at Old Trafford, it’s clear they will get chances. I think everybody who saw the game today saw two teams who both understood the importance of the occasion and the competition. We tried absolutely everything. Today we didn’t get a lot for it, not to say nothing.”
Now only fighting for Premier League and Europa League glory in the final months of the campaign, the Reds resume their top-flight title fight at home to Brighton & Hove Albion on March 31 and enter the international break second in the table, behind Arsenal on goal difference.
