NewsJürgen Klopp explains latest on Mo Salah and Dominik Szoboszlai fitness
Jürgen Klopp welcomed Mohamed Salah’s inclusion for Liverpool’s trip to Prague as ‘so good’ while explaining the need to judge how much the forward can feature.
Salah was part of the 23-man Reds squad that flew out to Czechia this afternoon for the first leg of the Europa League last-16 tie with Sparta Prague on Thursday night.
The Egypt international had missed the club’s past four matches after sustaining an issue in the 4-1 win at Brentford last month.
“Yeah, Mo travelled. He is with us, he trained two days, so full of energy. We have to see,” Klopp said of Salah’s availability at his pre-match press conference.
“But it is so good that he is back, that is really good for us and you can see in his face he is very happy. A very unlucky situation with being that long out and in for a moment, if you want, at Brentford, played an incredible game there and was out again. That’s how it is.
“We want to be careful, we have to be careful, but in the middle of a super-intense period of the season we need everybody and now let’s see how long we can use him.
“That’s how it is with him and with others as well. Yeah, just good news.”
On the possibility of Salah linking up with Egypt during the forthcoming international break, Klopp added: “That is nothing to do [with me] really. That will be decided in different departments. No, nothing to do with that.
“Let’s see how long he can play now. As I said, two days in team training – so, in a different situation players are not in the squad in this moment, but in our situation it makes sense.
“What can we give him? How much can we use him? We will see that.
“And then there are two games with Egypt, but it’s really not up to me or stuff like this, we are not really involved. That is discussed in other departments, let me say it like that.”
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Watch on YouTubeDominik Szoboszlai, meanwhile, made his return from a hamstring problem as a 76th-minute introduction during the 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest last Saturday.
And the manager was asked about the midfielder’s readiness for more game time in the 5.45pm GMT kick-off against Czech champions Sparta.
“It is good that he is back,” said Klopp. “He loves playing football. Being injured is for him tough, tough, tough.
“It was not an injury where it was painful every day or whatever, he was just not allowed to train properly, how it is with muscle injuries. So, that’s the reason why we had to be careful in his rehab, because if you would have asked Dom, he could have trained completely with the team for two or three weeks, but all the medical advice told us no, we have to wait. And that’s what we did.
“Now he is back, played a few minutes, is in the squad. All the rest, we will see.”