Jurgen Klopp remained cryptic about his plans for Dominik Szoboszlai against Sparta Prague on Thursday, with the Liverpool midfielder set to make his first start since late January.
Szoboszlai has been plagued by muscle problems since the turn of the year, appearing in only four of his 29 games for the club since New Year’s Day, picking up a problem in the 4-2 triumph over Newcastle United before suffering a setback at the end of the month in the 4-1 win over Chelsea.
The No.8 made his comeback after over a month away in Saturday’s 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest, coming on as a second-half substitute for Harvey Elliott with 15 minutes of normal time remaining at the City Ground.
The comeback is a timely boost for the Premier League leaders, with Manchester City visiting Anfield on Sunday in a top-of-the-table showdown, but Klopp declined to reveal how Szoboszlai will be used in Prague on Thursday evening.
“You might be surprised but we don’t talk about line-ups in these press conferences,” Klopp was quoted as saying. “It’s good that he’s back. He enjoys playing football, and being injured is quite difficult.
“It wasn’t a painful injury every day, but he wasn’t able to train fully, which is why we had to be cautious.
“All the medical advice said to wait, so that’s what we did. Now he’s returned, played a few minutes, and is on the squad. It remains to be seen whether he will play.
Klopp also refuted allegations that Liverpool’s schedule makes them vulnerable to complacency for the game against Sparta, despite Man City’s visit and a meeting with Manchester United in the FA Cup quarterfinals at Old Trafford on March 17.
Klopp continued, “This is the only game we play tomorrow, so it’s the most crucial one we have. We do not make a difference. If we prioritized a competition, we would not have won the League Cup, advanced to the FA Cup last eight, or remained in the Europa League. We never did.
“Maybe it would be wise to do that, but I’m not sure how. I’m a little dumb, so I don’t know how to accomplish that. We go into each game with everything we have, and hopefully you will see that tomorrow; that is our goal.”
