Klopp reacts to Henderson injury fears for Liverpool

The Reds skipper was substituted at half-time during the club’s FA Cup third-round victory over Villa on Friday.

Jurgen Klopp has played down any injury fears for Jordan Henderson. The Liverpool manager explained his decision to replace the captain with Thiago Alcantara in the second half against Aston Villa was pre-planned.

A young Reds side made light work on Villa on Friday to snatch an impressive 4-1 win in a third-round FA Cup tie.

After Louie Barry canceled out Sadio Mane’s opener to level the scoreline before half-time, Liverpool responded with three second-half goals. Mane, Georginio Wijnaldum, and Mohamed Salah all scored just five minutes past the hour-mark.

Well played to the Villa youngsters tonight. A credit to themselves and the club. For us, hopefully the start of a good cup run. Have a good weekend Reds. pic.twitter.com/ZxnhWNMUIj

— Jordan Henderson (@JHenderson) January 8, 2021

A key factor for the turnaround was Thiago’s introduction. The midfielder upped the tempo of play and played a big role in Salah’s goal after replacing a lackluster Henderson, who Klopp insists has no injury woes.

“Hendo and Thiago was clear before the game that we do it like this: 45, 45,” said the German during his post-match conference on Friday.

“Absolutely no problem. And no, no reservations.

“We trust the authorities, we had our test results come back yesterday as well, everybody was negative. Then the FA did what they thought is right with the U23s, they got tested, we got their results this morning I think at 10 o’clock.

“We were on the car park at the airport. So, then everything is fine.”