Diogo Jota and Alisson Becker will not feature against Manchester City in the Community Shield this weekend as they continue to recover from injuries.
The Liverpool duo have suffered issues in pre-season that have disrupted their preparations for the new campaign and Jurgen Klopp will not risk them in the traditional curtain-raiser on Saturday. While Alisson will be okay to take his place in goal for their opening Premier League game against Fulham, Jota faces a longer spell on the sidelines.
Pep Guardiola will give an update on the fitness in his City squad on Friday lunchtime ahead of the Saturday teatime encounter. Aymeric Laporte missed the pre-season tour with injury, Ruben Dias and Erling Haaland were left out of the first friendly as a precaution while three players trained with the Under-23s in Croatia instead.
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City and Liverpool will renew a rivalry that went down to the final kick of the Premier League last season as the Blues came back from the dead against Aston Villa to secure a fourth title in five years. The Community Shield is often seen as more important as preparation for the league, but Klopp insists his team will be in Leicester to lift silverware.
"It's very important - It's the last domestic cup competition we haven't won yet so we'll give it a try!" he said. "It's a very important game, but we still have to prepare a season. I can't ignore the fact that after the game is a season - we will have to extend our pre-season into the season.
"It took me a day [to get over last season] and then we had the parade. We knew it close, unlucky in moments but it's sport and we accept the rules. We played in a high level, consistent and were deserved winners in the games we won. We have to do it again."
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