‘The only real positive came from Trent Alexander-Arnold and all the rest were false positives’
Jürgen Klopp has revealed that Trent Alexander-Arnold was the only Liverpool player who had Covid-19 prior to their Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal that was postponed last week.
Liverpool’s first leg tie against Mikel Arteta’s side was cancelled due to a significant number of ‘suspected positive Covid-19 cases’ within the Reds camp, with manager Klopp and assistant manager Pepijn Lijnders both isolating.
However, it has since been revealed that the Merseyside outfit had recorded several ‘false positives’, which allowed Klopp to field a fairly strong team against Shrewsbury in the FA Cup at the weekend.
Speaking on Sunday, the German confirmed that Alexander-Arnold was the only player who had caught the virus, but anyone who’d been falsely diagnosed by their test also wasn’t available for the tie.
He said: “This was the team we could line up with today and the boys did really well.
“We had last week a proper outbreak and it showed up that we had a lot of false positives but the rules are like they are so all these players who are false positives couldn’t play.
“The only real positive came from Trent Alexander-Arnold and all the rest were false positives.”
Klopp: "We thought we had a proper outbreak last week and it showed up we had a lot of false positives actually, but the rule are like they are. The false positives couldn't play today. We had to make that decision. Only real positive was Trent. Tough week."
— Paul Gorst (@ptgorst) January 9, 2022
The Reds went a goal behind to Salop at the weekend when Daniel Udoh opened the scoring in the 27th minute.
However, the Premier League side responded well and levelled quickly through 17-year-old Kaide Gordon just seven minutes later.
Liverpool made it 2-1 when Fabinho converted a penalty, before substitute Roberto Firmino added another with a cheeky back-heel in the 78th minute.
Fabinho grabbed another in added-time to ensure the Merseyside outfit cruised into the fourth round of the FA Cup.
Klopp’s side will now face Arsenal in the first leg on Thursday, with the match being played at Anfield instead of the Emirates Stadium.
While they will of course be without Mohamed Salah, Naby Keita and Sadio Mane – who are all at the Africa Cup of Nations – the Reds should be able to field a strong side to take on the Gunners.
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