Liverpool's Wijnaldum to miss Club World Cup semi-final
Football
By
Reuters
| Dec 18, 2019
Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum has been ruled out of Wednesday’s FIFA Club World Cup semi-final against Mexican side Monterrey due to a muscle injury, manager Juergen Klopp said.
Wijnaldum was injured in Liverpool’s 2-0 Premier League win over Watford on Saturday but travelled with the squad to Qatar.
Klopp said that the 29-year-old’s problem was not as serious as initially feared but that they would monitor how it responded to treatment over the coming days.
“Gini was not as serious as we thought in the first moment, so he’s here doing the first recovery and then we have stuff what is necessary,” Klopp told reporters on Tuesday.
“We’ll see day by day, but for tomorrow night (Wednesday) he’s not involved.”
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Wijnaldum’s fellow Dutch international Virgil van Dijk also missed training in Doha on Monday but Klopp said the defender was not carrying any injury.
“Virgil is fine. We had to do different stuff for recovery for different people, that was the reason why he wasn’t involved yesterday in the session,” Klopp added.
“All the rest of the squad is fine.”
European champions Liverpool are looking to capture their maiden Club World Cup trophy.
The winner of Wednesday’s clash at the Khalifa International Stadium will take on Copa Libertadores champions Flamengo in Saturday’s final.
With Premier League leaders Liverpool playing in Doha this week, they fielded a starting lineup consisting mainly of reserves and youth team players for Tuesday’s League Cup semi-final against Aston Villa.
They acquitted themselves well against a more experienced Villa side but were beaten 5-0.