Liverpool are continuing to train hard in Dubai at their mid-season training camp during the ongoing World Cup break.
With only six Reds currently still representing their countries in Qatar, the majority of Jurgen Klopp ’s squad are also out in the Middle East as Liverpool step up their preparations ahead of the Premier League restart later this month.
However, there were a handful of senior stars missing from the Reds’ latest training session on Friday. Here’s what we did, and didn’t spot, as Klopp put his men through their paces.
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Missing players
Liverpool’ s injury problems were well-documented during the first half of the season, with a number of players having to overcome lengthy lay-offs. But that didn’t stop the Reds’ remaining walked wounded from travelling to Dubai.
The club confirmed that Luis Diaz, Diogo Jota, Naby Keita and Arthur Melo would all be continuing to work on their individual rehabilitation programmes when naming their initial 33-man squad, with youngsters Marcelo Pitaluga and Kaide Gordon believed to be doing the same.
But that didn’t stop Diaz and Keita from being pictured training with the rest of the squad earlier this week, with their own rehabilitations after injury ahead of some of their teammates. Yet the pair were both missing from the latest pictures released on Friday.
Meanwhile, Thiago Alcantara, Joel Matip and Curtis Jones also weren’t pictured on Friday. With all three suffering injuries this season, the Reds are likely not taking risks with the trio either. And with Liverpool’s first Dubai Super Cup fixture taking place against Lyon on Sunday, Klopp is likely to offer an update over the weekend.
Harvey Elliott ‘injured’
While the reasons behind Thiago, Matip and Jones’ training absences are unclear, Harvey Elliott does appear to have picked up an injury out in Dubai.
The midfielder had two fingers on his right hand bandaged together in Friday’s training session, having sported no such bandaging earlier in the week. Fortunately, it hasn’t stopped him from training with the rest of his team-mates at least.
But maybe don’t expect to see the youngster challenging Klopp at padel anytime soon, after the Reds boss and Pep Lijnders beat Mohamed Salah and Thiago at the popular game earlier in the week.
Business as usual for Bobby
Roberto Firmino remains out of contract at Liverpool next summer, but his uncertain future has shown no sign of distracting him on the pitch at least, with him scoring nine goals during the first half of the season.
Yet such form wasn’t enough to earn him a place in the Brazil squad for the 2022 World Cup. But despite such disappointment, he was again all-smiles in Friday’s training session ahead of watching team-mates Alisson, Fabinho and the rest of his compatriots take on Croatia in the quarter-finals out in Qatar later today.
Meanwhile, there were fresh reports on Friday suggesting Firmino has been offered a new contract by the club, with it a case of business as usual for the forward in the meantime.
Milner lost?!
Now Liverpool’s squad are very competitive. Having won every major honour going under Klopp, you wouldn’t have it any other way.
This has already been demonstrated by Salah and Thiago taking on Klopp and Lijnders at padel, with the Reds assistant manager making it very clear that it was the management duo who had come out on top. “I haven’t heard a word from him the last two days,” the Dutchman joked as a result.
Such competitiveness was also on show on training on Friday as the players squared off in a number of training exercises. One exercise seemingly involved trying to claim possession of a cone, with Salah potentially on the losing side again up against Elliott.
Meanwhile, Kostas Tsimikas celebrated wildly after bettering James Milner, who was seen performing press-ups as a forfeit, while Andy Robertson was delighted to get the better of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Yes, the Liverpool vice-captain actually lost a training game!
Elsewhere in training, there appears to have been some sort of five-sided training tournament as the winning side posed for celebratory pictures afterwards. For the record, Salah had better luck this time as he was on the winning side and wasted no time in flexing his arms muscles in such celebrations, as he posed alongside team-mates Nat Phillips, Adrian, Robertson and Tsimikas.
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