Liverpool will be without top scorer Mohamed Salah for Tuesday\u2019s Champions League semi-final second leg against Barcelona after manager Jurgen Klopp revealed he was concussed in a 3-2 win at Newcastle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Egyptian\n was stretchered off at St James\u2019 Park on Saturday due to a head knock \nsustained as he challenged Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka for a \nhigh ball.\u201cIt\u2019s a concussion so that means he would not even be allowed \nto play. So that\u2019s it,\u201d said Klopp at his pre-match press conference on \nMonday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe feels OK but it is not good enough from a medical \npoint of view that is all. He\u2019s desperate everything but we cannot do \nit.\u201d Klopp will also be without Brazilian striker Roberto Firmino due to\n a groin injury as his side faces the huge challenge of trying to \noverturn a 3-0 first leg deficit to make the Champions League final for a\n second consecutive season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTwo of the world\u2019s best strikers are\n not available tomorrow night and we have to score four goals against \nBarcelona to go through after 90 minutes,\u201d added Klopp.\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make \nlife easier, but as long as we have 11 players on the pitch, we will try\n it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Liverpool have a rich history of stunning comebacks in \nEuropean football, most famously lifting the Champions League in 2005 \nafter trailing the final 3-0 to AC Milan at half-time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In Klopp\u2019s\n first season in charge in the quarter-finals of the Europa League in \n2016, the Reds also came from 3-1 down in the final 25 minutes to beat \nhis old side Borussia Dortmund 4-3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the German coach is \naware of the extra difficulty of not just scoring at least three against\n the Spanish champions, but also not conceding a vital away goal to the \nlikes of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez that would leave Liverpool needing\n to score five to progress.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI imagine the place will be rocking \neven before we score to be honest, but we not only have to score, we \nhave to deny Barcelona from scoring,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While, Liverpool \nedged a bruising battle with Newcastle to remain in the hunt for a first\n Premier League title in 29 years, Barcelona boss Ernesto Valverde could\n afford the luxury of making 11 changes for a 2-0 defeat at Celta Vigo \non Saturday having already sealed the La Liga title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And Klopp \nadmitted he could have one eye on Sunday\u2019s final league game of the \nseason at home to Wolves with his team selection.\u201cWe have to make a lot \nof decisions. Tomorrow night will be the third game in six days and \nBarcelona changed 11 positions on Saturday, so that is a massive \ndifference as well of course,\u201d he said.\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liverpool will be without top scorer Mohamed Salah for Tuesday\u2019s Champions League semi-final second leg against Barcelona after manager Jurgen Klopp revealed he was concussed in a 3-2 win at Newcastle. The Egyptian was stretchered off at St James\u2019 Park on Saturday due to a head knock sustained as he challenged Newcastle goalkeeper Martin Dubravka […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":60812,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60811"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60813,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60811\/revisions\/60813"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blastingskyhawk.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}