Cody Gakpo left the Tottenham Hotspur stadium in a protective boot after scoring and suffering injury for Liverpoo
Jurgen Klopp looks dejected during the Premier League match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool FC at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on September 30, 2023
Jurgen Klopp fears Cody Gakpo could face an extended spell on the sidelines – as he expressed pride in his nine-man Liverpool side after their long unbeaten run was ended in dramatic and controversial fashion.
Gakpo scored his second goal in a week to equalise Heung-Min Son’s opener shortly before half-time in the 2-1 Premier League defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday evening.
However, the Dutchman had injured his knee moments earlier when caught by Tottenham left-back Destiny Udogie and was replaced at half-time by Diogo Jota.
And Klopp said: “The biggest problem of the game was before Cody Gakpo scored, he got injured. He is now with a brace limping down the corridor. That’s my problem at this moment.
“We lost two and maybe a third player, really bad. That’s something we have to deal with, obviously.
“It possibly might be bad. I don’t know. He scored a goal after that (the injury), but after that shot he felt it even more.”
Liverpool will already be without Curtis Jones for the next three Premier League games and Jota for one after the pair were both dismissed by referee Simon Hooper before unlucky Joel Matip scored an own goal in the last minute of injury time to send the Reds tumbling to a first defeat in 20 games.
But Klopp was delighted with the overall performance and character of his team, and said: “I told the boys directly after the game I am super, super proud. Especially with 10 men we were really good. Everything was necessary really well and on top of that we were really dangerous, we created still. That’s good, top class.
“But the boys showed an incredible mentality, it was second to none, I’ve never seen something like that, it was top, top, top.
“People might think because of this very, very unlucky – oh my God – that we didn’t get anything out of the game. But I see that differently. I learned so much about my team, much more than if we’d have won here in a bad performance. It was a really outstanding performance in a specific way. We didn’t get any points from it but we will use it.
