Jota and Firmino Have “No Chance” of Facing Leeds United

While it remains too early to say if forwards Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino will be able to face Chelsea in the League Cup final on Sunday, Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp has admitted that the duo have no chance of facing Leeds United on Wednesday.

“For tomorrow no chance,” Klopp said when asked about his top two strikers. “For the final we will see, but I don’t know in the moment. It would be easy to say no now but we will see. They were not on the pitch today for training so that’s not a good sign.”

While they aren’t taking part in team training on the pitch at the moment, the Liverpool manager previously revealed that the two players weren’t sidelined entirely, having been at the AXA Training centre this week doing off-field work and solo training.

That’s enough to keep some hope alive that at least one might be able to be involved in some way on the weekend, even if the likely best case scenario at this point would mean being ready to make the squad as a potential second half substitute.

In their absence, new signing Luis Diaz is likely one of the top three options for the manager alongside stalwart stars Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah, with Divock Origi and Takumi Minamino providing options should Klopp need to rest and rotate.

“We have to see what the boys can do [in training] in the next few days,” Klopp added. “Then we will have make a decision later in the week.”