Jurgen Klopp has admitted that Liverpool face a challenging run should Sadio Mane be ruled out of action for any length of time, but remains hopeful that his injury problem is nothing serious.
The Senegal international left the field in serious discomfort during the Reds' 3-1 win over Merseyside rivals Everton on Saturday, putting a blemish on an otherwise perfect afternoon for his side.
Klopp is unsure how long Mane faces on the sidelines after twisting his knee in a challenge with opposition full-back Leighton Baines, with Bournemouth on Wednesday almost certainly coming too soon, and he acknowledges that it will be tough to replace his 13-goal forward.
"The problem is, life is always a challenge," he told reporters. "Obviously as Liverpool manager I know that. "Today we had a really good game, won it, it was perfect, really good. Then you lose Sadio to an injury so....
"When I saw him in the dressing room, it doesn't look like he will be ready for Wednesday. We will see, hopefully it's not that serious. But it's not nothing, and that makes our life not much easier.
"Obviously he has pain, and it did not look it was only the muscle. When I came in immediately, I was looking for him. He was on the bed, he had already had treatment and it didn't look good."
Mane opened the scoring at Anfield on Saturday, with Philippe Coutinho and substitute Divock Origi adding the other two goals to fire Liverpool into third place.
Daniel Lewis
