Jurgen Klopp is hopeful Mohamed Salah will be ready for Tuesday’s Champions League showdown with Manchester City after the Egypt winger missed the Merseyside derby with a groin injury. Salah, who has scored 38 club goals this season, was left out of the squad for the 0-0 draw at Everton on Saturday in order to give him every chance to recover.
Dominic Solanke and Danny Ings were given rare starts in the Premier League as Klopp made five changes to his side with the aim of keeping players fresh for the trip to the Etihad Stadium.
Reds boss Klopp, who restricted Roberto Firmino to a 16-minute appearance as a substitute, indicated that there was never any likelihood of Salah facing Everton after he limped off during last Wednesday’s 3-0 quarter-final first leg win over City.
“We didn’t even think about it. I don’t have a ticker on how he feels. Everybody thinks he’ll be ready for Tuesday but at the end we will see,” he said.
For Klopp, whose side remain third in the Premier League, the priority in such a busy week was to avoid defeat, injuries and disciplinary trouble –- which they did.
Yet they could have been beaten as Everton increased their pressure in the final 10 minutes, as Cenk Tosun headed Theo Walcott’s cross wide and Dominic Calvert-Lewin steered over with only goalkeeper Loris Karius to beat.
“We’re happy,” said Klopp. “We were better for most of the game and then in the last few minutes there were two very exciting moments in our box, which is never a good sign, but I think until then, we controlled the game. We played the game we wanted to play. We were not here to play a wild derby. So it was difficult for Everton to get the game they wanted.”