Jurgen Klopp gives Alexis Mac Allister injury update after the Liverpool midfielder hobbled against Bayern Munich
- Liverpool are looking for reinforcements in midfield before the start of the season
- It was concerning for Reds fans to see Alexis Mac Allister hobble away in a friendly
- He collided with Konrad Laimer of Bayern Munich on his knees, but walked off without help
Jurgen Klopp has downplayed the severity of Alexis Mac Allister’s injury after the Liverpool midfielder limped off in Liverpool’s 4-3 friendly defeat to Bayern Munich on Wednesday.
Just before the half-time whistle, with the score tied at 2-2, Mac Allister went down uncomfortably when Andy Robertson called for physio.
Replays showed the Argentine suffered a blow to the knee following a collision with Bayern’s Konrad Laimer, and had to be helped back to his feet before he was able to run off unassisted.
Klopp gave an update on his condition after full-time, revealing it was just a blow and he didn’t want to take any chances as Liverpool’s Premier League campaign gets underway in just 11 days when they meet Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
‘Yes, knee to knee. He could have played on,” Klopp said at his post-match press conference.
Liverpool’s Alexis Mac Allister was deeply concerned when he went down in a friendly match
The £35m summer signing is a key puzzle piece for Jürgen Klopp and he needs him fit
Jurgen Klopp has downplayed the severity of the injury as he gave a full-time update
“So I first got the information that it’s too painful, so then it was clear that we were going to change. No need to push it through.
“When I spoke after that, he said, ‘No, no, it would have been fine.’ But we didn’t want to go (with) risks. It’s just knee to knee, bruises, that’s all. It was fine.’
Mac Allister was one of three players to be substituted at half time. Ibrahima Konate, Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez came before him, Joel Matip and Diogo Jota.
It all looked so positive for Liverpool, who took the lead after just two minutes through Cody Gakpo.
Things got even better when Virgil van Dijk, newly appointed permanent captain, made it 2-0 within the first half hour.
But Thomas Tuchel’s Bayern reacted well and halved the deficit, first through Serge Gnarby and then immediately through Leroy Sané.
The half-time changes saw Gakpo move into a midfield role, replacing Mac Allister, with Nunez on top leading the attack.
Liverpool re-took the lead through Diaz after the break, but Bayern took victory with two goals in the last 10 minutes.
Josip Stanisic leveled them and Frans Kratzig completed the comeback in the first minute of extra time.