Klopp backs Salah after positive tests following brother's wedding

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VIDEO SHOWS: NEWS CONFERENCES WITH JUERGEN KLOPP / FILE OF LIVERPOOL TRAINING

SHOWS:

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND, UK (NOVEMBER 20, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING:

"He's (Mohamed Salah) in a good place, he feels well, no symptoms so that's all fine.

"The other thing, there's absolutely nothing to say in public about to be honest, all the things I have to talk to my players about it's nothing for the public."

2. WHITE FLASH

3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING:

"In other situations there's more social, I'm not sure it's the right word, but kind of pressure on you and stuff like this, and a brother's wedding is a very special moment.

"What I can say about my players, they are incredibly disciplined, all football players in general are very incredibly disciplined. There were some cases of course but they really know about the situation, but sometimes it doesn't work out like this and something happens. So now we are in the situation we are in, but all the rest is just between Mo and me."

4. WHITE FLASH

5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING:

"Look the situation is really difficult for all of us. It was really difficult for the FAs, for UEFA and they had to cancel a European Championship in the summer. So now we all ask them just to don't play international football any more? But we know they have the same problem like the leagues, the national leagues have. So I'm not blaming anybody, any coach or whatever, for theses kind of injuries. It's the situation we are in."

6. WHITE FLASH

7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING:

"We are a unit, a proper, proper unit, and the more problems we have the closer we stick together. So that was always like this it will always be like this in this club. So yes we will not, how I said, we don't go for excuses, we have the situation we have, we don't like the injuries we have because it's really hard for the boys who have the injury, but all the rest is working on solutions, it's what we always do.

"We have solutions in our mind, maybe we think it's the worst situation possible but the season is long, we have only played eight games, so there are going to be a lot of problems and I always said who deals best with the problems in front of them has a chance to be really successful, and that's what we try to be."

8. WHITE FLASH

9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING:

"Of course they are in (Leicester championship contenders), it's the eighth matchday and Leicester showed not only last year how good they can be and this year again. They changed their style slightly, had to maybe because of the injuries they had, did really well with it, good example of how you can deal with an injury crisis whatever.

"Did really well, are in a good moment, have a clear idea of how they want to play and that's a tough one.

"Of course they are contenders for everything, they were last year for a long period, and this year they are more experienced in the situation so yes, of course."

10. WHITE FLASH

11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JUERGEN KLOPP, SAYING:

"I don't know any person who can just make decisions without knowing anything about it. Unfortunately in the world we have a lot of people who are doing that constantly, they are completely clueless but still making decisions, especially politicians. But that's the world out there, I don't understand it like this."

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND, UK (NOVEMBER 2, 2020) (UEFA - NO RESALES. NO COMMERCIAL USE. MUST ON-SCREEN COURTESY "©UEFA 2020")

12. LIVERPOOL PLAYERS AT TRAINING GROUND

13. NABY KEITA WARMING UP

14. MOHAMED SALAH

15. JOEL MATIP TRAINING

16. KLOPP AT TRAINING SESSION

17. SALAH

STORY: Liverpool manager Juergen Klopp refused to blame Mohamed Salah after the forward contracted COVID-19 having attended his brother's wedding in Egypt, although the German said he would personally avoid social engagements.

Videos emerged of Salah dancing during the ceremony without a face mask or socially distancing, with the 28-year-old later testing positive for the novel coronavirus ahead of Egypt's Africa Cup of Nations clash against Togo last week.

Salah, who is the joint leading scorer in the Premier League this season with eight goals, returned another positive test on Wednesday and is set to miss Sunday's clash against league leaders Leicester City.

Champions Liverpool are faced with a mounting injury crisis ahead of the clash against league leaders Leicester. Defenders Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez are set to miss the rest of the season after undergoing knee surgery.

Trent Alexander-Arnold, who was injured in the 1-1 Premier League draw with Manchester City earlier this month, and captain Jordan Henderson, who injured his leg on international duty with England, are also sidelined for Sunday's match but Klopp has warned his players not to wallow in self-pity.

Klopp, who confirmed that Brazilian midfielder Fabinho and Spaniard Thiago Alcantara are close to full fitness after overcoming a hamstring and knee injuries respectively, took a swipe at politicians, calling some of them 'clueless'.

(Production: Andy Ragg)