Jurgen Klopp has revealed he made a last-minute decision to leave Luis Diaz out of Liverpool's starting line-up against Watford.
The forward, who has come firing out of the blocks to start his Liverpool career following his January move from Porto, was on international duty with Colombia during the break. The South Americans narrowly missed out on qualifying for the World Cup despite securing wins over Bolivia and Venezuela.
Diaz, who got on the scoresheet against Bolivia, arrived back late from Colombia which means he has been unable to make the starting XI for Jurgen Klopp's side as they host Watford on Saturday afternoon.
Klopp said he gave the winger every chance to make but made the late decision to drop him and hopes he can make an impact off the bench. The same goes for Sadio Mane who helped secure Senegal's place in Qatar as he scored the winning penalty against Mohamed Salah's Egypt.
The German said: "Luis Diaz is on the bench because he was in Colombia. It is always tricky. We had to wait until the last minute really to make decisions."
On Mane, he added: "Sadio Mane stayed in Senegal for another night and only came back yesterday so that's the reason. We can bring them all on. Sadio looked top in training but we had to make the decision without really knowing how they will come back."
Klopp insists there is no rift between his star pair after Mane got the better of Salah once again following Senegal's AFCON victory - insisting it's actually the complete opposite. On Mane's return to Anfield after both games, team-mates had planned a ‘celebration’, but out of respect to Salah, the Reds forward asked that the ‘ceremony’ was cancelled.
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And Klopp claimed it shows their bond, as team-mates and friends. He said: “No doubt about it they are not only close, they are well educated, they are good boys, they are good humans.
“I really thought Sadio did particularly well with it to be honest and I am sure that Mo appreciates that as well. Even if it is your brother, then imagine he is playing for the other team and you have to play a final and one wins and the other loses. That is not a good situation for anyone. But for sure Sadio and Mo would consider themselves as friends, and they handled it well.”
