Liverpool have confirmed that Joel Matip will miss the rest of the 2020-21 season through injury.
Matip sustained ankle ligament damage in the first half of Liverpool's 3-1 victory over Tottenham Hotspur last week, but was able to play on through the pain until half time.
However, the Cameroonian did not emerge for the second half and, after visiting a specialist, manager Jurgen Klopp has confirmed that the 29-year-old will play no further part this season.
"Unfortunately, we found out now after everybody looked at it that Joel will be out for the rest of the season. But he will be ready for the start of the next pre-season and finally everything will be sorted," Klopp told the club's official website.
"In the end, we have to admit that he probably did [more damage by playing through the pain]. The situation is just, the season started and Joel was injured when the season started, unfortunately. We should not forget that at Schalke when he was there he played pretty much all the time completely through, he never had something.
"Then he was unlucky with a [Kalidou] Koulibaly challenge against Napoli in the last second, in the Everton game kind of things, a little bit with the foot here and there. If something started and then the situation is like our situation – that nobody can really wait because of our situation with Virgil [van Dijk] out and Joe [Gomez] out – we always had to try to find the first moment when he is able to play again.
"It was really unlucky because it was a brilliant challenge he made actually, he saved our life in that moment in the Tottenham game when he won the challenge against Son. But he injured his ankle and played the game on and now is out for the season, so you can imagine how much he tried to stay on the pitch and tried to help us.
"We will wait for him. He has now the rest of this season, then the summer, then the pre-season to get ready again and he will be ready again."
Matip's injury means that Liverpool's three main centre-backs will all spend the majority of the season on the sidelines, with Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez also long-term absentees.
Fabinho, who has filled in as Liverpool's fourth-choice centre-back this season, is also currently injured, but the Reds did bolster their options on transfer deadline day by bringing in Ozan Kabak and Ben Davies from Schalke 04 and Preston North End respectively.
In addition to those two, Klopp also has Jordan Henderson, Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams as options for the heart of his defence.
Barney Corkhill
