Klopp proud of Liverpool young guns as injury problems ease

Jurgen Klopp said Friday he was proud of his young players after they stepped up to help keep injury-hit Liverpool’s quadruple bid alive. 

Klopp’s men beat Chelsea at Wembley last week to win the League Cup and then progressed to the FA Cup quarter-finals by beating Southampton in midweek.

Now Liverpool turn their attention to Saturday’s Premier League fixture against struggling Nottingham Forest as they seek to extend their lead at the top of the table.

They are just a single point ahead of defending champions Manchester City and two clear of in-form Arsenal.

Forward Darwin Nunez and midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai could return for the trip to the City Ground but top scorer Mohamed Salah will not be ready.

“I don’t think Mo is too far off, but he will not feature tomorrow and from there we have to go,” Liverpool manager Klopp said at his pre-match press conference.

“It’s like touch and go but I think next week at any point it’s possible. He is on the way back, definitely, but not there yet.”

The German spoke of his “joy and pride” in the performances of his youngsters, many of whom featured in Wednesday’s 3-0 win against Southampton at Anfield.

“Yesterday (Thursday) was a wonderful day,” he said. “Usually when we win a trophy we do a staff picture and yesterday we did it 100 percent with the full academy staff as well so it was a lot of people.

“I really wanted everyone to feel it and understand the role they played in that whole story and that was really cool.”

Klopp, in his final season at Liverpool after nearly a decade in charge having made a shock decision to step down, was asked whether it would be difficult to leave such a promising group of youngsters behind.

“I love the more senior players as well so I’ll miss them too,” he said. 

“Seeing the young boys coming through gives me a good feeling for the future of the club, which is much more important than anything.”