Published 17:15 IST, December 25th 2019
Alex Oxlade Chamberlain suffers ankle ligament injury
The England international suffered the injury during the second half of Liverpool's Club World Cup final win over Flamengo.
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Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp said that midfielder Alex Oxlade Chamberlain has suffered an ankle ligament injury. The England international suffered the injury during the second half of Liverpool's Club World Cup final win over Flamengo.
AOC out till January at least
In the pre-match press conference, Klopp said, "The ankle [is] what we probably expected; you have three ligaments on the outside of the ankle, one of them is damaged. Now we have to see how quickly we can fix that. I don’t know exactly. I had that injury myself, but it was years ago and it can take a while or can be quick, we have to see. No chance for Thursday and no chance for this year; Oxlade will not play anymore [in 2019] that’s clear. Then we have to see how quickly it can settle.”
The head coach did not report any other injuries.
Klopp also highlighted that his team will be focussed and not tired or jaded after an intense schedule over the last 10 days where the team traveled to Qatar to play in the CWC. He said, "Whenever I ask the players, we are all in a situation where everybody wants to be constantly fit so I don’t have to ask them. So, I can only judge myself; the way to Qatar, sleeping-wise, was difficult to get used to, for me. On the way back it was completely normal. Since then, all good – we had a day off yesterday, I’m pretty sure the boys slept as much as they could and they should be completely fine today. From that point of view, the way there – change of climate and all that stuff – was really kind of intense and we needed days, maybe nearly the full week, to get used to it."
Liverpool will be playing second-placed Foxes on Thursday afternoon.
17:15 IST, December 25th 2019