Jurgen Klopp delivers Ibrahima Konate update after Sparta Prague triumph

With Virgil van Dijk enjoying a well-earned rest, Konate and Jarell Quansah formed the central barrier in front of Caoimhin Kelleher at epet Arena, where Liverpool's defence repeatedly came under the cosh in the first half.

The Reds' rearguard remained unbroken at the half-time break, but just a few minutes after the restart, Konate went down and could not continue, being replaced by Van Dijk for the remainder of the match.

Konate's withdrawal quickly sparked concern about his availability for the weekend's crunch Premier League clash with Manchester City, where Jurgen Klopp could already have up to 10 players unavailable due to various fitness problems.

Speaking to the press after the game, though, Klopp revealed that the former RB Leipzig man "should be fine", although he is still in the dark about the severity of his issue as the Reds prepare to fly back to England.

"We don't know [yet]. Ibou said to me when he passed me in that moment, 'I thought if I do another sprint then it could be bad.' So, he said he should be fine, but we don't know," Klopp said.

Prior to Konate's withdrawal, Joe Gomez was also taken off at half time for Conor Bradley, but Klopp confirmed that the Englishman's switch was pre-planned, adding: "Joey is fine. We took him off, he played a lot of games so that was more rotation, precaution. Now let's see what is with Ibou."

After coming off the bench to replace Gomez, Bradley's first act was to steer the ball into the top corner of his own net, but Liverpool had already built up a healthy three-goal lead during a frenzied first half.

Darwin Nunez was on target twice after Alexis Mac Allister's early penalty, but Sparta saw a host of gilt-edged chances pass them by thanks to their own wastefulness and heroic interventions from the likes of Gomez, Konate and Kelleher.

Following Bradley's unfortunate own goal, Luis Diaz spared his teammate's blushes as he restored the Reds' three-goal cushion, before Dominik Szoboszlai completed the rout in added time after Mohamed Salah - making his first appearance since suffering a muscle injury against Brentford in February - had a goal controversially ruled out for offside.

However, Klopp admitted that the 5-1 scoreline was harsh on Sparta given the manner of their plucky performance, adding: "So, the result is much better than the performance, that's true.

"Sparta played a good game; Sparta took some risks in our possession, they [were] hiding wingers slightly [and] our protection was not good, so they could create these counter-attacks. We lost a few unnecessary balls, which is then difficult to protect, but in other moments we should have done better.

"[They] took risks, we punished them for that in other moments, we scored wonderful goals, we had good moments in the game, really good moments in the game and we are not like that, that we think coming here is a walk in the park.

"It obviously was not a walk in the park, we had to work a lot, but we did not expect an easy game and it was not. But it was a good result and now we fly home, recover and in seven days we meet again."

Prior to next Thursday's return fixture at Anfield, the Reds can move four points clear of Man City in the Premier League rankings with victory in Sunday's tantalising top-of-the-table clash, although Arsenal can leapfrog both teams with a win at home to Brentford on Saturday.