Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed Mohamed Salah is ‘available’ for Wednesday night’s Champions League clash with Atalanta, but the Reds will delay a decision on his exact involvement as a result of a lack of training while in quarantine.
Salah tested positive for coronavirus while on international duty with Egypt earlier this month, before a second positive test ruled him out of Liverpool’s clash with Leicester on Sunday when Premier League action resumed at the weekend.
But by the time of the Leicester game, Salah had tested negative and by Monday was out of isolation and back at Liverpool’s new training facilities in Kirkby with the rest of the squad in preparation to host Atalanta at Anfield.
“Mo trained with the team [on Monday] and looked really good,” Klopp said as he addressed the media in the build up to the game against the Serie A side.
“The test was negative - all the tests were negative – so, if nothing changed since yesterday, he is available,” the Liverpool boss added.
But what role Salah will play, whether as a starter or on the bench, is yet to be decided.
“We have to see what we do with that because he was quarantined until three days ago,” Klopp clarified.
Klopp held his cards close to his chest when asked for other team news. Jordan Henderson withdrew from international duty with muscle tightness, while Thiago Alcantara is still awaiting his return from a knock that he suffered in the Merseyside derby over a month ago.
“All the rest, no news. One looks closer, the other one looks not that close, so that’s how the situation is and we’ll see who is available,” Klopp said, refusing to name names.
“I don't want to speak too much about it because I have no idea who Atalanta can bring into this game, so why should we give any kind of information to them?”
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Source: 90min
