The manager of Liverpool football club, Jurgen Klopp, has stressed that some of the reported coronavirus cases at the club were false positives.
The German tactician said the only player that tested positive for coronavirus at the club is Trent Alexander-Arnold who is still battling to fully recover from the virus.
Recall that over a week ago, a series of coronavirus cases were confirmed by Liverpool. It got so bad that the Carabao Cup semi-final game between Liverpool and Arsenal had to be postponed due to the reported number of cases at the club. The Carabao Cup semi-final game has been rescheduled for January 13, 2022.
It also went so bad that Liverpool’s training facility, AXA, had to be shut down temporarily due to the increasing number of confirmed cases at the club. It was reopened afterward.
Even coach Jurgen Klopp had to self-isolate due to suspected coronavirus infection. Due to that, he missed the Premier League game between his team and Chelsea on January 2, 2022. In his absence, his assistant coach Pep Lijnders led Liverpool to Stamford Bridge to earn a 2-2 draw.
Days after, the assistant coach had to also self-isolate due to suspected coronavirus infection. While coach Jurgen Klopp returned to the sideline against Shrewsbury on Sunday. Under his watch, Liverpool beat the lower division club 4-1 to scale through to the next round of the FA Cup campaign.
During the game, coach Jurgen Klopp decided to use a couple of academy players and some first-team players; the experiment ended well for Liverpool.
After the victory, the German tactician told reporters that Liverpool had a proper outbreak of the virus at the club but added that there were a lot of false positives among the confirmed cases.
“This was the team we could line up with today and the boys did well,” coach Jurgen Klopp said.
“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.”
Jurgen Klopp gives an update on Thiago Alcantara’s injury
On Sunday, January 9, 2022, when Liverpool took on Shrewsbury, Thiago Alcantara was not in any way close to the match venue. After the game, reporters asked Liverpool’s coach, Jurgen Klopp to give an update on the health status of the Spanish midfielder.
Coach Klopp said Alcantara who has not played for Liverpool since December 16 is battling a hip injury. Contrary to reports that the Spain international might not be available for Liverpool this season, the coach confirmed that the midfielder might be back to action before the end of the season.
The coach said: “He needs time now. He didn’t train this week but we expect him to be back to do rehab stuff from tomorrow on and then we will see.
“It is not that he is out until the end of the season, not at all.”
