Jurgen Klopp said he will wait until the last minute to decide Liverpool’s lineup for tomorrow’s Premier League game with Stoke City at Anfield after Sadio Mane emerged as his latest injury doubt.
The winger sustained a thigh injury in Tuesday’s Champions League semifinal first leg against AS Roma when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also suffered knee ligament damage that has ended his season.
Klopp said Mane’s injury was “not serious” and suggested the Senegalese was only visiting a friend when he was spotted at a Liverpool hospital on Thursday.
“Sadio was just visiting a friend! Of course there is something. It’s not serious. There is a chance for tomorrow, we must wait on (him),” said Klopp at a pre-match news conference on Friday.
“I prefer to wait until the last second. We have a few little things from the (Roma) game. My idea for the lineup is to win the game. It’s not about resting players. We play Tuesday-Saturday-Wednesday, so we could play same team, if they were available.
“There won’t be a thousand changes because it’s an important Premier League game for both teams.”
Liverpool are still not guaranteed the top-four finish that would secure a place in next season’s Champions League and still need to travel to fifth-placed Chelsea, who could overtake them.