Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that Naby Keita suffered a hamstring injury in their 2-2 Premier League draw with Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday.
On Friday, Klopp said he was surprised by Keita's quick recovery after he was at the receiving end of a horror tackle from Manchester United's Paul Pogba last Sunday.
A few minutes into Saturday’s encounter at Anfield, the Guinea star walked off the pitch in pain and he was replaced in the 20th minute by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.
In his absence, goals from Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mane were not enough to seal maximum points for Liverpool.
However, at the end of the game, Klopp disclosed that Keita, who has endured injury struggles since he moved to the Merseyside in 2018, is set for an unspecified spell on the sidelines.
“He showed me the hamstring and how people told me, it’s hamstring. I cannot say more,” Klopp told the club’s website.
Keita has contributed two goals and an assist in seven Premier League games so far this term.
While assessing his team’s overall performance, Klopp described the shared points with Brighton as a defeat for Liverpool even though they remain second on the Premier League table.
“I cannot change it now, [but] it feels like a defeat even though I know it’s not a defeat. It is a deserved point for Brighton, obviously, for different reasons,” he continued.
“It’s unnecessary because in our good moments we were really good, we showed how you have play against Brighton but then with not playing enough football anymore, we opened the door for them.
“The best way to defend Brighton is to have the ball yourself and that’s what we didn’t do for long enough. That’s why we scored the two goals, which were incredible, especially the two goals which were disallowed were incredible.
"Sadio’s second goal was my favourite goal of all six years in Liverpool because of how we put them under pressure there; it was just insane and unlucky with the handball.
“Then they scored their goal – not sure if it was a cross or not, but who cares because the ball was in – and we didn’t play enough football anymore, not the right football.
"In our good moments, we attacked the centre of Brighton, which is where you have to do it and then we didn’t do that anymore.”