News that both Ibrahima Konate and Raphael Varane have fallen ill will have set the alarm bells ringing not just for the French camp ahead of the World Cup final but also for clubs back home ahead of the resumption of the domestic campaign.
Jurgen Klopp nodded to the ‘virus’ making its rounds across the continent and expressed his hope that Liverpool could avoid suffering an outbreak ahead of their meeting with Manchester City.
“I hope we all get through it and we all know in England, and in Europe in general, there’s kind of a virus going around, so we hope we can stay out of that,” the former Borussia Dortmund boss told liverpoolfc.com.
“Then we will make the decision obviously on Wednesday who can play on Thursday.
“But it’s good and will be a very interesting game after that period but I’m looking forward to it.”
The Merseysiders recorded a big 4-1 victory over AC Milan with the club’s youth contingent shining in the latest round of the Dubai Champions Cup.
Poor form, injuries and a perceived hangover after the demanding 2021/22 season left us struggling to leave our mark on the league table ahead of the disruption caused by the Winter World Cup.
There’s every reason to believe, however, that the long break will prove beneficial to the club with Jurgen Klopp whisking his men away to Dubai for the kind of intense training camp that was overshadowed by commercial commitments in pre-season.
There will be no time to ease into the second-half of the campaign – not least of all due to the calibre of opponent we face on December 22.
A strong start is a must for a side with designs on returning to the top four spots. Hopefully, we won’t see a fresh spate of absences thanks to the dreaded virus carving a path through Europe.