JUR NOT GOING TO EUROS,VVD
WOLVES v LIVERPOOL No dream return for Virgil & Gomez
JURGEN KLOPP has blocked Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez from going to the Euros this summer.
The Kop boss believes the serious nature of their longterm injuries makes it impossible to allow the Anfield duo to play with Holland and England before they’ve completed a preseason with Liverpool.
Dutch defender Van Dijk is running again after a torn cruciate ligament in his right knee against Everton at Goodison Park in October.
And England defender Gomez, 23, isn’t far behind in his recovery from a torn tendon in his left knee sustained while training with England in November.
Serious
But Klopp is clear that even if the duo have recovered, it’s too risky to sanction their participation at the delayed Euros which start on June 11.
“It’s not my decision but to be honest the information I have at the moment, it will be unlikely,” said Klopp.
“Not that I don’t let them go because I don’t want to do that anyway, but it’s because of the extent of the injuries.
“We all hope that they will be ready to start pre-season with us. That is what we hope.
“But we should not forget these are really serious injuries. And with Joel Matip, it’s pretty much the same.
“It’s not about saying which competition they can play in. As far as I know, and I am always open for positive surprises and they all of a sudden show up in training, but nobody told me that they are nearly ready. The two of them look at the moment better than Joel does because he is still in something like a ski boot, but he is here as well.
“Joe is starting running, Virgil is already running but this is really a tough one.
“We are completely over the moon when they are ready to train with us for the start of pre-season.
“The Euros, I didn’t think about it. When do you have to be back to be able to play in the Euros? The week before, the day it starts? I don’t know.
“I understand maybe the need of that but we cannot make this decision and we will not. It is just when they will be fit. That’s how it is.”
Klopp (left) is focusing on a strong finish to the Premier League season starting with Wolves at Molineux tomorrow.
But after reaching the quarter-finals, he
admits it would be a dream to finish in the Champions League Final in Istanbul on May 29 – the scene of their historic 2005 triumph against AC Milan under Rafa Benitez.
Dream
He said: “It would be a dream yeah, so why not? But we really are not in a situation thinking that.
“We are really happy after beating Leipzig and going through to the quarter-finals.
“James Milner said to me it’s a fourth quarter-final in Europe in my five years here, so yeah, that’s good.
“But we are not in a situation sitting here and telling already the fairytale of how it all could end.
“Yes, it is the last eight of the Champions League but the last eight are historically tricky.”
England’s first game of the Euros is against Croatia at Wembley on June 13 while Holland kick off their group campaign on the same day against Ukraine.