Ibrahima Konate Injury: When will the French defender return to action for Liverpool?
Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate suffered a muscle injury during his team’s clash against Sparta Prague in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 first leg.
Despite the Reds winning with a comprehensive 5-1 margin away from home, the Frenchman’s injury casts a dark shadow on the result.
Ibrahima Konate Injury: Jurgen Klopp provides an update
Konate started alongside Jarell Quansah in central defence as Klopp chose to rest Virgil van Dijk for this game. He had a good 50 minutes on the pitch, winning two duels and making three clearances and one tackle. The Frenchman also passed the ball with 91% accuracy.
However, things turned sour for Liverpool despite being 3-1 up just after the break with an Ibrahima Konate injury. The defender went down after a few sprints and was replaced by van Dijk. Klopp provided an update in his post-match interview.
You can watch Klopp’s video below:
“We don’t know what it is. He (Konate) went past me in the moment and said, ‘I thought if I do another sprint then it could be bad’.
“He said, ‘I should be fine’, you know. So we don’t know yet.”
Considering it is a muscle injury, Ibrahima Konate could be out for a week or two.
Liverpool’s comprehensive win over Sparta Prague
The Reds made a great start to the game with Alexis Mac Allister leading from the front. He scored an early penalty to set the tone, followed by Darwin Nunez’s first goal to make it 2-0 in the 25th minute. The Uruguayan made it three just before the break as Liverpool were cruising.
Conor Bradley’s unfortunate own goal early in the second half meant his team could not keep a clean sheet despite a solid defensive performance. However, goals from Luis Diaz and Dominik Szoboszlai completed a rout in Prague.
Sparta will travel to Liverpool for the second leg at Anfield on March 14 with very little to play for.
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