Jurgen Klopp confirms Liverpool injury blow as midfield crisis escalates

Liverpool's midfield woes have worsened with Jurgen Klopp admitting Naby Keita is highly unlikely to feature against Atletico Madrid.

Keita, 26, limped off in the first half of the Reds' Premier League clash with Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday afternoon.

His latest injury concern came the weekend after he was stretchered off against Manchester United following a horror tackle by Paul Pogba.

Keita has been a standout performer for Liverpool in recent fixtures, scoring in last weekend's 5-0 victory over United and the 3-2 win at Atletico five days earlier.

He has impressed in the absence of Thiago, Fabinho and Harvey Elliott, all of whom are ruled out through injury to leave Klopp's side light in the centre of the park.

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Naby Keita was taken off after suffering a hamstring injury against Brighton ( Image:

AFP via Getty Images)

James Milner has also been ruled out until after the November international break with a hamstring issue sustained at Old Trafford.

Klopp confessed his side will be threadbare in midfield as Atletico come calling on Wednesday as he all but ruled Keita out of the Champions League clash.

"If somebody feels the hamstring, it would be the first time that he is ready for the next game. So, I can't see that," said the German manager.

Keita's injury exacerbated a disappointing afternoon for Liverpool after they squandered a two-goal lead against Brighton.

Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mane put the hosts in control at Anfield, but Enock Mwepu and Leandro Trossard struck either side of half-time to earn a point for the Seagulls.

Keita's replacement, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, set up Mane's strike with an excellent cross and the Englishman is poised to start against the La Liga champions in midweek.

"We changed system second half at a specific point," said Klopp. "We couldn't defend the width anymore, obviously we tried to fix that with changing to a 4-4-2, that was with Oxlade going to the left wing and Sadio to the right.

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"Apart from that, he set up the second goal, Sadio's goal, with a nice cross and that's it. And then he was part of the bunch playing more or less 'yes or no'.

"They all can play better football like Ox can play better football, but anyhow it's good. He played 70 minutes round about and that's good for him.

"He had 90 during the week and today 70, so now let's see how he can recover and what we can do with that on Wednesday."