Jordan Henderson has been ruled out of Liverpool’s Premier League clash against Fulham on Sunday and may be out until the end of the month.
Jurgen Klopp confirmed at his media conference on Friday, as quoted by the Echo live blog (10.32am), that the central midfielder won’t play at Craven Cottage and is likely to miss England’s Euro 2020 qualifiers during the forthcoming international break.
Henderson suffered an ankle injury early in Wednesday’s Champions League triumph against Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.
“With Hendo we don’t know – it’s serious enough to rule him out for the weekend,” Klopp said. “The international break will hopefully be long enough to bring him back.
“It is to do with his ankle. It’s the best it can be but still not good enough, it’s okay though.”
OPINION
This is a major blow for Liverpool. Henderson divides opinion among Reds fans, partly because he is a midfield anchorman who’s main job is to close opponents down, win the ball and give it to someone more talented, but no-one can question his commitment to the cause or desire to do what’s best for the team. He also has the complete faith and trust of Klopp, who has omitted Henderson on plenty of occasions this season, but still turns to him for the biggest matches against marquee opposition. That was the same on Wednesday, when Henderson, who had been man-of-the-match in the first leg, got the nod ahead of the likes of Fabinho and Adam Lallana to start alongside Gini Wijnaldum and James Milner in midfield. Henderson’s night ended early against Bayern, but he would have expected to start at Craven Cottage against the Premier League’s bottom club this weekend if given a clean bill of health.