Klopp Gives Updates on Fitness of Can and Matip Before Bournemouth Clash

A win in the Merseyside derby on Saturday didn’t come without a price. The most serious is a possible season-ending injury to Liverpool’s top scorer Sadio Mané. Additionally, though, there were also injuries to midfielder Emre Can and defender Joël Matip.

With a midweek game against Bournemouth upcoming, the battle is on for both players to be deemed fit to play.

“Emre has kind of a full body bruise. Everywhere,” Klopp said, describing both Can’s condition as well as the state of every Liverpool fan’s soul at this latest possible injury setback in the squad.

“We left him out on Monday because he had back pain, knee pain. Nothing serious, thank God. Really, he has knocks everywhere. I hope he will be fit.

“Joël had a little bit of a back problem or two. He saw the doc before training so we will see. He should be okay.”

Should Matip be unable to play, it will be Ragnar Klavan taking his place in defense. The midfield is a trickier proposition, however, due to Henderson and Lallana both already being out injured.

Securing as many points as possible over these last eight games of the season will be crucial to the Reds’ Champions League ambitions. They can ill-afford to lose other key players before the end.

That being said, this is not the first time in his short Liverpool tenure that Klopp has had to deal with an injury crisis. Last season, he maneuvered around the problem as well as could be expected. With luck, he can manage the same this time around.