Liverpool FC news recap: Three points, injury woes, & Konate on Mbappe | OneFootball

Here's our Liverpool FC news recap for Saturday, 17th February 2024. The Reds beat Bournemouth but it came at a cost.

Liverpool travelled to Brentford on Saturday and returned to Merseyside with three valuable points. However, that came at the cost of even more injuries.

In fact, the Reds had injury news before the game even kicked off as Alisson Becker was ruled out. If only the injuries had stopped there.

Instead, Liverpool have a lot to deal with this week. Thankfully, they do have those three points to console them, while Manchester City dropped two with the visit of Chelsea.

A positive day? Sort of. Here's our Liverpool FC news roundup.

Liverpool finally beat Brentford

Liverpool's incident-packed 4-1 win away at Brentford on Saturday afternoon brought an end to a particular curse that had been haunting the Reds.

Prior to today's game, Liverpool had never managed to clinch a victory at the Gtech Community Stadium, making it their very own bogey ground.

Despite being one of English football's top performers since the Bees' promotion to the Premier League in 2021, the West London side's stadium was the only current Premier League ground at which the Reds had never won - until now.

This record may not come as a great surprise, though. Given that Brentford are only in their third season back in the top flight and the stadium only opened for the start of the 2020/21 season, Jurgen Klopp's side had only played there twice before in the league.

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Crutches for Liverpool pair

Despite a comfortable 4-1 win away at Brentford, the headlines coming from the Gtech Community Stadium for Liverpool are all about the first-half injuries suffered by Diogo Jota and Curtis Jones.

Football - FA Premier League - Brentford FC v Liverpool FC LONDON, ENGLAND - Saturday, February 17, 2024: Liverpool s Diogo Jota is treated for an injury during the FA Premier League match between Brentford FC and Liverpool FC at the Brentford Community Stadium. Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda LONDON Brentford Community Stadium GREATER LONDON ENGLAND PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxUK Copyright: xDavidxRawcliffex P2024-02-17-Brentford_Liverpool-77

The outlook for the pair doesn't look good. Both will certainly miss the Carabao Cup final against Chelsea next Sunday after leaving West London "on crutches".

According to Liverpool Echo's Ian Doyle, Jones was seen boarding the team bus "with his left foot in a protective boot", while Jota left the stadium "with his left knee in a brace".

Following the game, Reds boss Jurgen Klopp told TNT Sport (via BBC Sport): "Diogo's looks probably the worst. I didn't see it back but I heard the pictures didn't look great as well."

The Portuguese striker had to be stretchered off after Christian Norgaard fell on his right knee after a three-way clash which also involved Alexis Mac Allister.

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Alisson out too

Alisson Becker missed out on Liverpool's trip to Brentford with a fresh injury problem.

Football - FA Premier League - Arsenal FC v Liverpool FC LONDON, ENGLAND - Sunday, February 4, 2024: Liverpool s goalkeeper Alisson Becker looks dejected as his mistake leads to Arsenal s second goal during the FA Premier League match between Arsenal FC and Liverpool FC at the Emirates Stadium. Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda LONDON Emirates Stadium GREATER LONDON ENGLAND PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxUK Copyright: xDavidxRawcliffex P2024-02-04-Arsenal_Liverpool-71

The Reds' first-choice keeper was left out of the squad that beat Burnley 3-1 at Anfield last weekend with an illness, but had been expected to return for this Saturday's clash — with Jurgen Klopp even declaring the stopper fit in his pre-match press conference.

However, there are widespread reports that the 31-year-old Brazilian picked up a hamstring injury during the training session on Friday and did not travel with the team to London.

In his place, Caoimhin Kelleher, who impressed against Burnley, is now likely to have a run in the team.

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Alonso equals record

Xabi Alonso has equalled a German record the day after Jurgen Klopp gave massive praise to the favourite to replace him at Liverpool. The Spaniard is working wonders at Bayer Leverkusen.

Trainer Coach Xabi Alonso Bayer 04 Leverkusen am Spielfeldrand Gestik Geste 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 FCH vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen 17.02.2024 DFL REGULATIONS PROHIBIT ANY USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS AS IMAGE SEQUENCES AND/OR QUASI-VIDEO 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 FCH vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen *** Coach Coach Xabi Alonso Bayer 04 Leverkusen on the sidelines Gesture Gesture 1 FC Heidenheim 1846 FCH vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen 17 02 2024 DFL REGULATIONS PROHIBIT ANY USE OF PHOTOGRAPHS AS IMAGE SEQUENCES AND OR QUASI VIDEO 1 FC Heidenheim 1846 FCH vs Bayer 04 Leverkusen

Xabi Alonso oversaw Bayer Leverkusen's 2-1 win at Heidenheim on Saturday to at least temporarily take an eight-point lead at the top of the Bundesliga. Bayern Munich can cut that back to five tomorrow, though.

But this was particularly notable as it's Leverkusen's 32nd game of the season - and they haven't lost any of them. That equals the German record for an unbeaten start to a campaign, set by Bayern back in 2019/20.

Now, Bayern did do slightly better than Leverkusen have - they only drew one of those 32 games. Alonso's team have drawn four in the Bundesliga alone.

On Friday, though, Leverkusen will host Mainz and go for the outright record. It would be surprising if they didn't secure it at this point.

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Konate on Mbappe

Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has directly responded to talk that Kylian Mbappe could join the club in 2024. It doesn't exactly sound likely.

Paris Saint-Germain v Real Sociedad: Round of 16 First Leg - UEFA Champions League 2023/24 Kylian Mbappe of Paris Saint-Germain PSG is celebrating his goal during the UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg football match between Paris Saint-Germain PSG and Real Sociedad at the Parc des Princes Stadium. Paris France PUBLICATIONxNOTxINxFRA Copyright: xIbrahimxEzzatx originalFilename:ezzat-notitle240214_npv6E.jpg

There have been suggestions that Liverpool's 'interest' is actually drummed up by Mbappe's people in order to create competition for Real. That increases the player's negotiating power and it makes sense - especially as just about everyone expects him to eventually land in Madrid.

That's certainly what Ibrahima Konate suggested after Liverpool's 4-1 win vs Brentford. He was asked by Canal+ where he saw Mbappe moving to Anfield.

"Do you really think he's going to come here?" he laughed. "I think we all know where he's going to go."

We almost certainly do. Mbappe is firmly up for grabs and the club of his dreams want him. Liverpool may be there in case Real pull out of a deal but until that, their chances feel about zero.

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