Talented teenager attacker Jayden Danns has been ruled out of the first leg of Liverpool's Europa League last-16 clash with Sparta Prague due to a reported concussion.
The 18-year-old is beginning to make waves in Jurgen Klopp's first team and has already made four appearances for the senior side this season, scoring twice in an FA Cup beating of Southampton.
Danns has also appeared in Premier League fixtures with Luton Town and Nottingham Forest - as well as coming off the bench against Chelsea in the EFL Cup final - after scoring in each of his first seven Under-18 Premier League appearances of the season.
The 2006-born protege would have been in line to make his European debut at epet Arena on Thursday night, but he was a notable absentee from the Reds' 23-man travelling squad, which was released on Wednesday afternoon.
In the 85th minute of last weekend's 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest, Danns was booked for a collision with Tricky Trees goalkeeper Matz Sels, in which the Reds attacker apparently sustained a concussion.
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As a result, Danns will not be available to take on the Czech champions as he follows the mandatory recovery protocol, and he is one of 10 absentees for Klopp to contend with for Thursday's first leg.
Joel Matip, Ben Doak, Curtis Jones, Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota, Stefan Bajcetic, Thiago Alcantara and Ryan Gravenberch are all keeping Danns company in the treatment room, but Mohamed Salah has made the cut.
The Egypt international has been unavailable since picking up another muscle injury against Brentford on February 17, but he rejoined his teammates for practice at Kirkby before their flight to Prague.
Klopp said at his pre-game press conference that Salah was raring to go, but Liverpool face Manchester City in a top-of-the-table Premier League clash three days after taking on Sparta, and the 31-year-old will likely be spared for the visit of the treble winners.
Ahead of Salah's return to training, Liverpool asked the Egyptian FA to leave him out of their squad for March's international fixtures, as the Reds want the attacker to use the domestic hiatus to focus on regaining full match fitness following his second injury of the year.
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However, a member of the EFA board has stated that Salah will be summoned for duty if he plays against Sparta, Man City or Manchester United, whom Liverpool face in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup on March 17 after the second leg of their European tie.
While Danns has not made the trip to Prague, Lewis Koumas - who also netted against Southampton in the cup last month - is included, as are Kaide Gordon, James McConnell, Bobby Clark, Mateusz Musialowski and Fabian Mrozek.
Liverpool took 12 points from 18 against Toulouse, Union SG and LASK Linz to finish top of Europa League Group E, but they lost their last two away fixtures in the section to the former two teams.
Meanwhile, Sparta placed second in Group C behind Rangers and bested Galatasaray 6-4 on aggregate in the knockout round playoffs, recovering from a 3-2 first-leg deficit with an impressive 4-1 victory in the return fixture.
The two sides are reuniting following their battle in the last 32 of the 2010-11 Europa League, where Sparta held Liverpool to a goalless draw at home before suffering a 1-0 loss at Anfield by virtue of a Dirk Kuyt header.
Ben Knapton
