Jurgen Klopp spoke of three minor fitness concerns from the defeat at Man United, which he hopes will not be aggravated while on international duty. Liverpool threw away a place in the FA Cup semi-final, failing to close out the game after twice having the lead, in normal and extra time. With another 120 minutes in their legs, it was the last thing this team needed after the exhaustion of the last few weeks, which have been compounded by injury absences. After the match, Klopp told the BBC of three minor issues across his front line, saying: “Now, the boys go on international duty. We hope they come back healthy. “Lucho felt his groin, Darwin [his] hamstring and Cody twisted his ankle. They play again in four or five days, it’s crazy.” The manager did add that Nunez’s issue is “hopefully not bad,” but the Uruguayan, in addition to the majority of Klopp’s squad, will be involved for their respective nations throughout the March international break. They will all predominantly play in friendlies, and Klopp is hopeful his players will be carefully managed while they are away – let’s hope his message his heard loud and clear. Klopp said: “I think most of them have friendlies, Wataru, I think, has qualifiers but I cannot make these decisions for the managers, most of them we don’t speak the same language. “They want them in the best possible shape for the summer, most of them play [in summer tournaments], so I hope they don’t have to play two games, 90 minutes. “That would be helpful, but it’s not it my hands. “Does [the break] come at the right moment? If we would’ve kept playing on Thursday or Friday, I would’ve been fine with that, but it’s never cool when they are not around. “I like it a lot when they are here and we can really give players a day off and just treatment. Let’s just hope they all come back in a good shape and then we go [again].” Fingers crossed our issues are not compounded!
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