Daniel Sturridge injury: Liverpool wait for foot scan results after striker suffers yet another setback

Sturridge was ruled out of Liverpool's Europa League victory over Bordeauz and has nearly missed more games for the Reds than he has played in

Jack de Menezes
Friday 27 November 2015 08:35 GMT
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Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge suffered a fresh injury setback on Thursday
Liverpool striker Daniel Sturridge suffered a fresh injury setback on Thursday (Getty Images)

Liverpool are waiting on news surrounding Daniel Sturridge’s latest injury after the England striker suffered yet another setback ahead of Tursday’s Europa League victory over Bordeaux.

Sturridge has only played three times this season and is yet to feature under new manager Jürgen Klopp, although the 26-year-old looked set to play some role off the substitutes’ bench against the Ligue 1 side.

However, the striker’s name was a notable absentee from the Liverpool team sheet, and it was quickly revealed that he had picked up a fresh foot injury in training that would rule him out of the match at Anfield.

Sturridge’s injury problems have blighted his Liverpool career with the forward missing 68 games for the Reds and playing in 70 matches, meaning he has nearly sat out more than he’s played in. While his transfer was relatively cheap at around £12m in 2013, his best season remains the 2013/14 campaign when his relationship with Luis Suarez fired the Reds to second in the Premier League and within a whisker of the title.

Liverpool will hope they have not seen the best of Sturridge yet, but Klopp revealed ahead of their progression to the last-32 of the Europa League that they had to wait for results of a scan before a prognosis could be made on the forward’s return.

"I don't know too much about the situation because it was in the afternoon after training - not what I saw as we trained in two groups and I was with the starting line-up," Klopp said.

"We had no time to think about it because it was really close to the game.

"At this moment we have to wait. I am not qualified [to say what the extent of the problem is]."

With Sturridge ruled out, £32.5m summer signing Christian Benteke led the line with Roberto Firmino supporting him, and the former Aston Villa striker put in one of his best showings in a red shirt so far as he won the penalty for James Milner to convert before netting the winner himself, as well as seeing two further goals ruled out.

However, it was Bordeaux’s opener that Klopp was keen to discuss afterwards, with goalkeeper Simon Mignolet penalised for holding onto the ball for more than the six seconds allowed. An indirect free-kick was awarded to the French side, from which they scored from, and Klopp said he has never seen a side penalised for time-wasting as early as the 25th minute, although the stopwatch showed that the Belgian goalkeeper had the ball for a lengthy 22 seconds.

Simon Mignolet shares a joke with Jurgen Klopp after the 2-1 win over Bordeaux (Getty Images)

"The [Mignolet] free-kick.... I am long in this business and never had a time-play after 25 minutes from the team with more ball possession," he added.

"We got the penalty - there was contact of course - but then we could start anew.

"We made the second goal, a brilliant goal, so I am fine.

"I am very happy to be qualified, the team is happy to be qualified, the club is happy to be qualified so you can be happy to be qualified if you want.

"We are top of the table, which is important but not the most important, so we will try everything when we travel to Sion in two weeks."

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