Jurgen Klopp revealed Alexis Mac Allister was “relieved” to be brought off at half-time in Liverpool’s win over Wolves.
The Reds recovered from a torrid first-half at Molineux to come from behind and earn a 3-1 victory, as Cody Gakpo and Andy Robertson scored after the break before Hugo Bueno diverted Harvey Elliott’s strike in to seal the three points.
Mac Allister started in midfield for Liverpool, but picked up a yellow card inside four minutes and was replaced at the break by Luis Diaz as Klopp looked for significant improvement from his side.
The 24-year-old only returned to training with his club on Friday, having been on international duty with Argentina. Mac Allister was pictured earlier in the week using an oxygen tube to try and cope with the high altitude in Bolivia.
Speaking after the win over Wolves, Klopp admitted the midfielder was struggling with fatigue in the opening 45 minutes and had no issue with being withdrawn at half-time.
“He was done,” Klopp said. “Yellow card and he was exhausted in the first-half already.
“We know how good Alexis is, in the first half his decision-making... we saw during the week when he had the oxygen mask on, I thought a couple of times they should have left it on a little bit longer – that would have helped maybe!
“It was just tough. When you’re in a game like this, it’s pretty likely you’ll come to a challenge a bit too late and then you have the second yellow and that’s it. That’s all.
“He had good moments in the first half, but he had some other moments as well and you could see them. He was not really disappointed when we took him off. I think he was rather relieved.”
