Klopp Gives Firmino Injury Update

It looks like the on pitch reunion of Roberto Firmino with good friend Philippe Coutinho may have to wait a little longer. Firmino missed Friday’s game against Huddersfield because of a slight muscle tear, and while manager Jürgen Klopp was generally positive, it does appear that Firmino’s availability is in doubt when Liverpool head to Camp Nou to face Barcelona this weekend.

Speaking of his Brazilian forward, Klopp explained, “Bobby trained yesterday completely normally, it was not high-intensity we just had to work on set-pieces a little bit and here and there a couple of things. I didn’t see it in training, it happened in the last situation of training and he felt a muscle a little bit.

“Now, the official diagnosis is he has a small tear in a small muscle, so apart from the word ‘tear’ everything else is positive. It is Bobby, so he might be ready for Wednesday, but we obviously don’t know in the moment. Because it is him, it’s rather likely that [he will be] than not, but we will see.

“So, of all the bad news you can get it is pretty much the best, but it’s still bad enough that he couldn’t play tonight.”

People who thought that Daniel Sturridge had seen his last game in a Liverpool shirt may have been jumping the gun a bit. Or it’s possible that Divock Origi or some combination of players will fill in the gaps. But the best scenario would, of course, be Firmino being ready to play on Wednesday.

The good news is that Firmino will be Klopp’s only significant injury, and considering how late in the season it is, that’s practically a miracle in Liverpool terms.