Robertson on crutches and out of opener

ANDREW ROBERTSON will miss the start of the season after scans revealed the Liverpool left back had damaged ankle ligaments in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Athletic Bilbao at Anfield. The Scotland captain had scans at a private hospital on Merseyside yesterday and there was relief that his right ankle will not require surgery. He is, however, on crutches and there is no chance of being involved at Norwich on Saturday. There is also a question over whether he will be fit for Liverpool’s next two games against Burnley and Chelsea. He is in a race to be fit for Scotland’s World Cup qualifiers in September but Robertson (above) has issued an upbeat appraisal of the situation. ‘Scan results suggest nothing too major but there is some ligament damage, which will need to mend,’ Robertson said on Instagram. ‘No point guessing on how long that will be other than to say I will be grafting every day so I can help the team sooner rather than later.’

Kostas Tsimikas, the Greece left back, will replace Robertson and he had an enterprising night as Liverpool wrapped up their preparations for the new campaign by comfortably beating Osasuna 3-1 here last night. He provided the assist for the first of Roberto Firmino’s two goals with a pinpoint cross and showed plenty of energy down the wing. Takumi Minamino had opened the scoring in the 14th minute and also created one for Firmino, who captained the team. Liverpool, meanwhile, are in talks with Lyon over the sale of Xherdan Shaqiri, who was left out last night. They are looking to recoup most of the £13.5million they paid Stoke in 2018 but are still some distance from agreeing a deal.