Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has said that Ibrahima Konate has a "good chance" of making his comeback from injury in next weekend's FA Cup quarter-final with Manchester United.
The French centre-back was missing from the ranks for Sunday's pulsating 1-1 Premier League draw with Manchester City, having picked up an apparent hamstring problem against Sparta Prague in the Europa League.
In the absence of Konate, Jarell Quansah did himself proud alongside the imperious Virgil van Dijk in front of Caoimhin Kelleher, as the Reds subjected the champions to a barrage of attacks only to come away with just the one point.
Konate was sent for scans on his injury prior to the visit of Man City, although the results of those tests have not been disclosed, and there has been no official word on the severity of his injury.
However, when asked by reporters in his post-game press conference on Sunday if Konate's problem was serious, Klopp replied: "No, no. Ibou has a chance for United. A good chance.
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"We need the players back. All the stories we created with the kids and stuff are wonderful, wonderful, I couldn't be happier about that, but of course we fight for the biggest prize in football.
"Today, Ibou Konate is out then we start all three of our other centre-halves and if one goes down and we play in the next six days two games with two centre-halves which play all the time. All these kind of things are really tricky but we came through it."
While Liverpool's injury list is not as dire as it was a few weeks ago, Konate is the only member of the Reds' 10-strong infirm cast thought to be in with a chance of coming back before the international break.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Curtis Jones, Alisson Becker, Joel Matip, Ben Doak, Stefan Bajcetic, Thiago Alcantara, Diogo Jota and Ryan Gravenberch are all longer-term absentees, while Mohamed Salah and Andrew Robertson started Sunday's blockbuster game on the bench.
The former had made his return from a second muscle injury of the year against Sparta Prague, but speaking to Sky Sports News before kickoff, Klopp affirmed that the decision not to start the Egyptian was not a difficult one.
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"We didn't even think about him starting the game. There are things in life you can learn from, and the last time Mo came back a bit early and was unlucky that he got a little setback," Klopp said.
"But we spoke about that with Mo as well. It was not his idea, or my idea to start him today. It will be an intense game and we can bring him on which is super cool, but no it was not a big decision."
Salah and Robertson were introduced in the second half of Sunday's game, where Alexis Mac Allister's penalty cancelled out John Stones's first-half opener in an engrossing final Premier League battle between Klopp and Pep Guardiola.
The City boss credited his players for weathering a "tsunami" of Liverpool attacks, but Klopp felt that his side should have been awarded a penalty right at the death for Jeremy Doku's high challenge on Mac Allister.
With neither Liverpool nor City clinching all three points, Arsenal sit at the summit of the table with 10 games left to play, although Klopp's men are only behind the Gunners on goal difference.
Ben Knapton
