Virgil van Dijk may not feature in Liverpool’s Carabao Cup tie with Man City

Carl Markham, PA

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has suggested he will not immediately bring back Virgil van Dijk for the start of their Carabao Cup defence at Manchester City.

The Netherlands were knocked out of the World Cup a week ago by finalists Argentina, with Van Dijk playing every minute of their run to the quarter-finals, but Klopp may not consider the centre-back for Thursday’s trip to the Etihad.

However, England duo Jordan Henderson, who did not complete 90 minutes in the three matches he started, and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who played just 33 minutes against Wales, are more likely to be in contention despite their exit a day later than Van Dijk’s.

“Yeah, there’s a chance, of course – they train already,” Klopp told a press conference after their 4-1 Dubai Super Cup win over AC Milan when asked whether any returning World Cup players would face City.

“Hendo is already training here. Virg is training here, but I don’t think we will try that. Hendo we will see, Trent we will see.

“But this group worked now together for nearly two weeks and we made a real step and that’s cool.

“I don’t know in this moment (who will play). I hope we all get through it and we all know in England, and in Europe in general, there’s kind of a virus going around, so we hope we can stay out of that.

“Then we will make the decision obviously on Wednesday who can play on Thursday.

“But it’s good and will be a very interesting game after that period but I’m looking forward to it.”