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Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Portugal forward Diogo Jota will miss the upcoming FIFA World Cup due to a calf injury.
The attacker is yet to score this season for the Reds but has provided five assists in eight appearances so far. Jota put on a fine display during his team's hard-fought victory over Manchester City on Sunday (October 16), as his defensive work was lauded throughout.
However, close to the final whistle, Jota pulled up holding his calf and was stretchered off and Klopp has confirmed that his injury is serious. The Liverpool boss told his press conference (as per BBC Sport):
"Really not good news, yes he will miss the World Cup. Pretty serious injury in the calf muscle and now the process starts. That’s it pretty much. All the rest will now follow in the next few days. Very sad news for the boy, for us as well and for Portugal."
According to Sky Sports, the German boss further added:
"It’s a pretty serious muscle injury. It's very sad for the boy, for Portugal and for everybody. We’re talking about months, we will see. I don’t want to put a number on it. But yeah, it will be long."
"It’s Diogo and he’s surprisingly okay so far. He’s an intelligent boy and I think he knew straight away."
The injury is not only a major blow for Liverpool, but also for Portugal, with the attacker playing in all but one of his nation's previous nine encounters.
Jurgen Klopp believes he will be in the dugout for Liverpool's upcoming fixture despite red card
Klopp's fury on seeing his side not being given a free kick resulted in him being shown a red card against Manchester City. The Merseysiders host West Ham United tomorrow, hoping to make it three wins on the bounce and Klopp believes he will be on the touchline.
The German tactician recognized that he should have done things differently, as he stated (as per the aforementioned BBC Sport source):
"I think I will be there tomorrow because nothing happened yet. I don’t think something will happen tomorrow a few hours before the game. I still think I should have dealt differently with the situation which I usually do. In this moment. you could not bring me in this mood, no change."
"The whole game lead to that a little bit. It was a very, very intense game with a lot of decisions we didn’t understand on both sides."
