Liverpool’s thrilling 2-1 win over Crystal Palace came at a steep cost, with Adam Lallana coming off injured bare minutes after his introduction in the second-half and Reds manager admitted the early prognosis didn’t look good, prompting speculation that the midfielder’s season could be over.
“I haven’t spoken with him but I saw him. It’s absolutely bad. We don’t know exactly what he has, but in the first moment and then I saw him going down it looked really serious, to be honest,” Klopp stated at his post-match press conference in London.
The injury-prone Englishman replaced Georginio Wijnaldum as Klopp sought to throw the book at the Eagles with the score 1-1 in the second-half but the German tactician was forced into replacing the 29-year-old with Dejan Lovren soon after.
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Lallana has struggled with a thigh injury all season and his chances of getting fit in time for Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League clash with Manchester City are virtually non-existent.
“It looks like something with the muscle, we couldn’t make any further assessment so far, of course, but we will do that as quick as possible.
“He’s our friend, our boy, our mate, our player having a difficult season already. Maybe one of the biggest achievements of the team is that they could play a season so far like they played without Adam Lallana – I never would have thought it was possible.”
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Lallana has completed 90 minutes just once this season and his chances of making Gareth Southgate’s England squad for this summer’s World Cup in Russia are looking slim, at best.
“So we are all desperately waiting for him and now coming step-by-step back and now… it’s a big, big blow for us today,” Klopp stated.