Marko Grujic Taken to Hospital with Probable Concussion

Liverpool’s 2016/17 preseason had been going pretty, pretty good so far with 4 wins and 4 clean sheets in as many efforts against England’s lower-tier sides. Unfortunately that joy ride came to a crashing halt, running square into Chelsea’s double-decker parked bus in an ugly 1-0 loss to their familiar Premier League foe in sunny Pasadena, California.

To add injury to insult, Marko Grujic and Dejan Lovren suffered head injuries during the match. The former was removed just before half after coming together in an aerial duel with Bertrand Traore, and the latter came off early in the second half after a well-placed knock out punch by new keeper Loris Karius.

Of the two, Grujic appeared worse for the wear, and required a trip to the hospital.

“In general the biggest problem for me is that Marko Grujic is in hospital,” Jürgen Klopp said after the match. “He can't remember anything. That's not too cool for a young boy in this situation. Injuries happen in pre-season. It can happen. It's unlucky but it's not too good for us.”

A concussion is the obvious diagnosis, one that will likely keep Grujic out of action for at least a couple of weeks.

It wasn’t all bad news from Klopp though, Joel Matip is apparently recovering well, and should be ready to start the season against Arsenal on August 14. Also, new center back Ragnar Klavan survived a red-card, studs-up challenge from Cesc Fàbregas unscathed, a challenge which the Chelsea defender apologized for immediately after the match.