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The sight of Liverpool star left-back and general pleasant fellow Andy Robertson slamming down on his ankle in Sunday’s friendly put into mind many bad memories from the injury-stricken previous season. The only solace at the time was that, as gnarly as it looked, Robertson walked off on his own without a stretcher.
In the day that followed, some even better news emerged: the injury was not as bad as that fall made it appear. Scans showed that he sustained ligament damage, but, as Robertson himself explained it, “nothing too major.”
When asked about the time frame for his return after Monday’s final friendly against CA Osasuna, manager Jürgen Klopp seemed similarly optimistic.
“I think we got lucky with that,” Klopp admitted. “It could have been much worse. We saw the footage, it didn’t look too well. But I think we got lucky, it will not be too long. I’m not sure [if] before the international break or after the international break, it’s difficult in these situations. But not too long.”
This means that Klopp anticipates about a month out for the full-back, which is much better than the several months that many feared when it happened.
Robertson was seen leaving Anfield on crutches on Sunday and later posted a picture of himself wearing a boot as he relayed the good-as-could-be-hoped-for news on his social media.
Thanks to everyone for the kind messages and support. Scan suggests nothing too major but there’s some ligament damage which will need to mend. I will be grafting every day so I can help the team again sooner rather than later. Good luck to the boys playing tonight #YNWA pic.twitter.com/urKPCLmHgS
— Andy Robertson (@andrewrobertso5) August 9, 2021
Liverpool’s games leading up to the September international break are: Norwich City, Burnley and then Chelsea. In place of Robertson, Klopp has Kostas Tsimikas and “little Owen Beck”. With Robertson an immoveable object in that backline, we’ve yet to see much of Tsimikas, so it will be interesting to see him get a consistent run of games here.
The preseason injury may have felt like a bad omen after the calamity of last season, but instead, let’s focus on the fact that Robbo’s initial prognosis is actually better than anticipated. It’s a nice change from every stubbed toe keeping a player out for two months anyway.
The new season begins on Saturday for the late game at Carrow Road.