Jurgen Klopp hinted that Liverpool face a nervous wait to see if Darwin Nunez will be available for their Champions League reunion with Real Madrid.
The Reds capped a positive week, which started with a win over Everton, with a second victory in a matter of days - beating Newcastle United 2-0 at St James’ Park. Nunez opened the scoring on Tyneside with a ruthless finish, before Cody Gakpo made it two after 17 minutes.
And Liverpool ’s domination was then compounded five minutes later when Magpies keeper Nick Pope was sent off for handling the ball outside of the penalty area. The hosts battled on with a man fewer, but failed to engineer any kind of comeback.
The result means Klopp’s charges have reduced the gap to the top four to just nine points and still have a game in hand on Newcastle - who occupy the final Champions League berth.
But after two wins saw their hopes of qualifying for next season’s competition increase, attention quickly turned back to this campaign’s tournament. Liverpool take on holders Real in a repeat of last May’s final, with the first leg at Anfield on Tuesday night.
However, Klopp may be forced to take on the European champions without Nunez after he was withdrawn with a painful shoulder injury. The Uruguayan suffered the issue after jumping up for a header and falling awkwardly.
"The most negative thing was that Darwin [Nunez] had to go off. We have to see how serious that is – hopefully not too much,” Klopp explained.
He added: “He had to go off with that issue and we need further assessment. I don’t know [the extent] in this moment. In this moment it is painful. Hopefully it is just painful and nothing more. We have to see how serious that is – hopefully not too much.”
And while Klopp was happy with the result against Newcastle, he admitted that they struggled to maintain their early rhythm when they were handed the numerical advantage.
Klopp said: "Against 10 men we didn't react particularly well. Newcastle had nothing to lose anymore. You could see they're a top team with top character – they threw everything on the pitch. And we gave them too many set pieces.
"The relief of the 2-0, the red card, and all of a sudden one step less and the rhythm was gone. I wish we'd have done that better, but in the end I'm really happy we got it over the line.”
In more positive injury news, Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino both continued their recoveries by coming off the bench, while Virgil van Dijk managed to play the entire 90 minutes.
"Diogo [Jota] could have scored. Bobby [Firmino] started really well and then lost two or three balls that pretty much gave them counter-attacks,” the Kop boss explained. "Getting through this is the next step for them. Virgil [Van Dijk], playing 90 minutes was hard for him. All the rest was really good."
