Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed defender Ibrahima Konate is closing in on a first-team return after nearly a month on the sidelines.
French international Konate last featured on January 29, playing the full 90 minutes as the Reds lost to Brighton in the fourth round of the FA Cup. He has been unavailable through injury since, though, with Liverpool shipping five goals to Champions League opponents Real Madrid in his absence.
The return of the former RB Leipzig star will be a welcome sight for fans as Klopp's team attempt to claw their way back into the top four. However, the manager has accepted his key men haven't been returning good as new this term, with Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino yet to hit top gear after their own comebacks.
“Ibou [Konate] is near but only two sessions after a long injury," Klopp said. "You can see when the boys come on they aren't at their best yet. We have to make changes and we will. It's not that you come back from a long injury and it clicks back to normal, Virgil [van Dijk] too.
“We need to find some consistency in the way we play. It cannot be all about emotions... We just have to start believing in ourselves again and bring our quality on the pitch.
“There are a lot of good things but we are not stable yet. We have to work on that stability.”
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Joe Gomez partnered Virgil van Dijk at centre-back against Real Madrid but was withdrawn just under 15 minutes from time. The former Charlton defender is thought to be a doubt for his team's upcoming Premier League game against Crystal Palace.
Klopp's team led 2-0 against Real Madrid as they aimed to get revenge on the team who beat them in the 2022 Champions League final and also eliminated them from the competition in 2021. However, after a quick-fire Vinicius Junior double levelled things up at the break, the Spanish giants scored three second-half goals to all but end the tie as a contest.
If Liverpool are unable to mount an unlikely comeback, a top-four Premier League finish would represent their only hope of qualifying for next season's Champions League. Klopp's team sit eighth in the table, seven points behind Tottenham in fourth, though they have two games in hand on Antonio Conte's team, and Liverpool's manager opened up on the state of play.
“European footballl... it's Liverpool!" he said. "No one asks me if we can make the Europa League, it's incredibly important we qualify [for the Champions League]. It's always so important and this year will be decided later if we can do it. We need points for that.”
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