According to a recent report by the Liverpool Echo, Croatia defender Dejan Lovren is losing the race against time to be fit for the UEFA Champions League encounter against Bayern Munich next week. Liverpool Echo correspondent James Pearce recently shared his thoughts on Lovren’s recovery and said, “I’d be very surprised if Lovren starts.
“The fact that he didn’t even travel to Marbella was a bad sign. He hasn’t played since January 7 and even if he returned to full training this weekend at Melwood would be really be match fit?
“I think it’s a toss up between Fabinho and Jordan Henderson to partner Matip.”
In a recent interview (Liverpool Echo), Jurgen Klopp also shared his thoughts on Lovren’s recovery and said, “I don’t want to rule it out but I cannot really plan with it.
“He is not here for good reasons, because he cannot be part of training. We are back on Friday. Then from Saturday on, Dejan is back at Melwood and we will see.
“But, of course, we have to prepare it differently. If Dejan gives a sign on Monday – ‘I feel brilliant’ – then we’d have to think anew.
“But in the moment we prepare the game and in this preparation Dejan is not involved. We have to find other solutions.”
The recent comments of James Pearce and Jurgen Klopp will be a bitter pill to swallow for the Liverpool supporters as their team will now have a tough task of keeping things stable at the back despite so many injuries to some of their most influential defenders.
Both Joe Gomez (injury) and Virgil Van Dijk (suspension) will miss out on the European clash versus Bayern at Anfield on Tuesday night. Now that Lovren is a major doubt for this contest, Klopp will have a selection dilemma in his hands. Both Henderson and Fabinho are the leading contenders to take up the duties of a makeshift centre-back alongside Joel Matip.
However, it doesn’t bode well for the Merseyside outfit to rely on a midfielder to fill in at the heart of the Reds backline while up against one of the best teams in European football.
There is no doubt that Lovren will be a huge miss if he does end up missing out on this match. However, Fabinho has previously shown against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the FA Cup that he is quite capable of lining up as a centre-half. So the Brazilian’s versatility might ease Liverpool’s woes a little heading into the first leg of their crucial Round of 16 tie versus the Bavarian giants.
