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Jurgen Klopp has said he is concerned about Liverpool‘s fixture schedule after the international break next month.
Liverpool face a trip to Watford on Oct. 16 but could be without a number of players who might need to quarantine on returning from international duty.
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Last month, the club prevented Roberto Firmino, Fabinho and Alisson from joining up with Brazil which resulted in the nation threatening to ban the players from representing the club in their next Premier League match.
FIFA stepped in to lift the ban but Klopp is worried that he won’t be able to stop his players from travelling in October and wants more flexibility around fixture selection.
“There must be a solution because we cannot just leave it like this, it is a problem,” he told a news conference. “I know that the decisive people are working on that but there’s nothing decided yet as far as I’m concerned.
“It’s only after the international break but anyway, we have a problem when the Brazilians are allowed and I expect them to go to the national team so we have a 12.30 p.m. (BST) kickoff at Watford and I think the game for Brazil is on Friday night or morning at 1.30 a.m (BST).
“Obviously nobody thought about that yet and I know it’s a Liverpool problem, nobody else’s problem so good for Watford. But I just don’t know how you can do these kind of things that nobody reacts to the schedule.
“We have two problems — one is the schedule which was always a problem. It’s another thing that is not good for the players and the clubs as well. I hope the government can come up with any kind of solutions.”
Klopp also compared Mohamed Salah with Bayern Munich‘s Robert Lewandowski, who he worked with during his time at Borussia Dortmund.
Salah is one away from scoring his 100th goal for Liverpool and Klopp praised his mentality to continue delivering for the club.
“Mo Salah is absolutely up there with him, there’s no doubt about that,” he added. “Mo is a goal machine, his professionalism is absolutely second to none and he does everything to always stay fit.
“He’s first in and last one out and apart from his technical skill set, he is desperate to score goals and that’s helpful as well. That’s exactly the same with Lewy and that’s good.
“Whatever you do and create on the pitch, you need somebody who brings the ball over the line and into the back of the net and Mo is there with the best I ever saw, he knows that. The numbers he has are insane and I’m obviously blessed to work with some good players during my career.”