Mac Allister facing a race against time
BIG BATTLE TO FACE UNITED
From Chris McKenna in Brussels
JURGEN KLOPP admits Alexis Mac Allister looks set to miss Liverpool’s game against Manchester United on Sunday after a stud went through his muscle to the bone.
The midfielder missed Saturday’s win over Crystal Palace after he suffered a nasty cut on his knee in a challenge from Sheffield United’s Vinicius Souza last week.
He has not travelled for tonight’s final Europa League group game, which is a dead rubber against Belgian outfit Union Saint-Gilloise.
Manager Klopp said: “The other boy stepped on his knee and the stud went through pretty much the muscle on to the bone.
“Now we have to wait until the bone is healed and until Macca can deal with the pain, because it is pretty painful.
“Macca is actually a super-tough guy so we probably have to make sure just from an infection point of view nothing happens. That’s really important.
“I never had this injury for one of my players before but now we have it. I hope it will not take that long, I would like to say it’s day by day – but that would look like he could maybe play the next game but he will not be ready for that as well.
“So I hope the next three or four days he makes big steps and then we will see.” One man who could benefit from Mac Allister’s absence is Harvey Elliott, who does not want to be known as a super-sub despite his heroics coming off the bench.
Elliott, 20, scored a last-minute winner against Palace and has also helped turn games against Wolves and Everton this season after coming on. “I don’t really want to be known as a super-sub,” said the England Under-21s international.
“It’s a great headline as well, it’s a nice one, but at the same time I want to be in the team. It’s time to establish myself in that position again and hopefully get good run of games. But at the same time, I need to be patient as well and maybe be the super-sub as well.”
Elliott had to watch as Liverpool refreshed their midfield in the summer with the signings of Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch and Mac Allister, who are all 24 or under, as well as Wataru Endo, 30.
That has made it a bigger battle for Elliott but he will get the chance from the start tonight with Klopp set to ring the changes by fielding a young side.
“You see the talent that we’ve brought in and the talent already around the club, and you can go through many, many names,” added Elliott.
“But it’s a healthy competition, healthy relationships between the players, and we are always wanting to drive each other on.”
LIVERPOOL (probable): Kelleher; Bradley, Konate, Quansah, Chambers; Elliott, Endo, Jones; Doak, Gakpo, Gordon.