Bad News For Liverpool Fans As Klopp Confirms Reds’ Center-Back Won’t Play Again This Season

Liverpool FC boss Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that center-back Joel Matip will miss the remainder of the 2020-21 season after being diagnosed with a long-term ligament injury.

"Unfortunately, we found out now after everybody looked at it that Joel will be out for the rest of the season. But he will be ready for the start of the next pre-season and finally, everything will be sorted," Klopp told Liverpool’s official website.

A tackle from Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min during the first half of Liverpool’s 3-1 win in London last Thursday led to Matip’s injury. A further diagnosis of the problem has revealed the Cameroonian defender has suffered an ankle ligament injury that would keep him out of action for the rest of the ongoing campaign.

Liverpool are without their first-choice center-back duo of Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez. Luckily for Klopp, Liverpool’s defense options have been boosted by the deadline day arrivals of Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak.

The Reds’ 2020-21 campaign has been severely hit by injuries and Klopp has acknowledged Matip’s efforts to play through injuries and sacrifice his own fitness for the team.

"In the end, we have to admit that he probably did that. The situation is just, the season started and Joel was injured, unfortunately. We should not forget that at Schalke when he was there, he played pretty much all the time completely through, he never had something. Then he was unlucky with a Koulibaly challenge against Napoli in the last second, in the Everton game kind of things, a little bit with the foot here and there. If something started and then the situation is like our situation – that nobody can really wait because of our situation with Virgil out and Joe out – we always had to try to find the first moment when he is able to play again," added Klopp in the same interview.

Klopp also stated that while Matip managed to make a brilliant challenge against Son at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, he was unlucky to suffer the ankle injury but that did not stop the defender as he continued to play on.

"He injured his ankle and played the game on and now is out for the season, so you can imagine how much he tried to stay on the pitch and tried to help us. We will wait for him. He has now the rest of this season, then the summer, then the pre-season to get ready again and he will be ready again," the German boss further said.

Liverpool will next face Brighton in the Premier League Wednesday before their big home game against leaders Manchester City Sunday.