Liverpool have confirmed that Adam Lallana will miss the start of the Premier League season due to a thigh injury, with the England international expected to be out for up to two months.
Lallana, who scored eight league goals last season as Liverpool finished fourth, picked up the injury during Liverpool’s Audi Cup final defeat on penalties against Atlético Madrid on Wednesday. The 29-year-old was replaced at half-time as a precaution but a statement from Jürgen Klopp on Friday confirmed he will miss next week’s opening match against Watford.
“This is certainly not news we would have wanted,” the manager said. “Unfortunately, the damage is such that it will likely mean Adam is out for a couple of months not weeks, so I think we can pretty much rule him out of August and September.
“Beyond that we will monitor and wait and see. He is a boy with a world-class attitude to everything professionally and he has always come back in good time from injury setbacks since I have been here, so we will see.”
Liverpool are also monitoring Philippe Coutinho’s back niggle which has forced him to miss Saturday’s friendly against Athletic Bilbao in Dublin.
Meanwhile Klopp has welcomed a Champions League clash with Hoffenheim, admitting he felt in advance he would be heading home in the play-off round. Liverpool will go to Germany for the opening leg on 15 August before hosting Hoffenheim at Anfield eight days later.
“Very interesting. Actually it was exactly what I expected when I had a look. If there’s a choice, we always seem to take the German team. Sorry!” Klopp said.
“It was clear from the first moment when we knew who we could face that there would be no easy game. It’s Hoffenheim and that’s for sure not an easy game.
“But we should always not forget what they thought in the moment they saw the draw. It’s not the best thing they could get. I’m completely fine with it, happy to know and now we can start preparing. “They are a strong side, how everybody can imagine. When you are fourth in Germany you are a strong side.
“It’s a very interesting club. They have a lot of really good young players. They lost two of them, Sebastian Rudy and Niklas Sule to Bayern Munich and had a little change. They have a very young manager, Julian Nagelsmann, just 30 years old, a very talented man. First we’ll play Watford but at the same time we’ll start preparing for Hoffenheim and it’s really exciting.”
The tie pitches Roberto Firmino against his former club as the Brazilian striker spent four seasons at Hoffenheim before joining Liverpool in 2015.
Klopp has a mixed record versus Hoffenheim – winning five, drawing six and losing five of the 16 games with them while he was in charge of Mainz and Borussia Dortmund – but Liverpool have fared well against German opposition.
Liverpool have progressed from 14 of 16 two-legged knockout ties against German opposition and are fresh from visiting the country at a pre-season training camp.
“It’s a wonderful region. Hoffenheim is more a village than a city,” Klopp told Liverpoolfc.com. “It’s an absolutely settled Bundesliga club. It’s not too far away from my home, the area where I grew up. It’s a really wonderful region, 100 per cent, a nice stadium.”
Celtic’s reward for their third qualifying round victory over Rosenborg is once again to make the near 8,000-mile round trip to Kazakhstan. Brendan Rodgers’ side played Astana in the Champions League last season, drawing 1-1 away before winning the Parkhead return 2-1 thanks to a last-gasp Moussa Dembélé penalty.
“We are happy with it,” Celtic’s manager said of the draw. “It was always going to be a tough game wherever you play. The beauty for us on this one is it is not the unknown. We played them last year and qualified at the beginning of our journey, so we know what it is like out there: hotel, astroturf pitch, virtually the same players. It will be as tough as last year but we look forward to it and will be ready for it.”
Celtic will host the first leg on 16 August before the away game in Astana six days later.
Meanwhile Ronald Koeman insists Everton will be prepared for the challenge of Hajduk Split in the Europa League. Everton face the Croatian club in the final play-off round as they aim to reach the group stages of the competition that Manchester United won last season.
The first leg is scheduled for Goodison Park on 17 August before Koeman’s team travel to the 35,000-capacity Stadion Poljud on 24 August.
“Hajduk Split will be a real challenge, with their strong support and a stadium that is good to play football in,” Koeman told Everton’s official website. “But of course we want to reach the group stages of the Europa League, so we will have analysed their strengths and weaknesses between now and the tie and we will be prepared.”