Jurgen Klopp explains why McAllister had to be subbed off during pre-season clash against Bayern Munich

FOOTBALL Jurgen Klopp explains why McAllister had to be subbed off during pre-season clash against Bayern Munich

Mark Kinyanjui 19:47 - 02.08.2023

McAllister had to be subbed off during the club's warmup match against Bayern Munich, giving Liverpool fans a scare.

Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp allayed concerns about the knock Alexis Mac Allister suffered during Liverpool's pre-season meeting with Bayern Munich on Wednesday.

The Argentine midfielder was withdrawn at half-time of the Reds' 4-3 defeat by the Bundesliga champions in Singapore after sustaining a minor blow to his knee.

Speaking at his post-match press conference, Klopp said: "Yeah, knee on knee. He could have played on.

"So firstly I got the information that it's too painful, so that was then clear that we will change. There's no need to push him through.

When I spoke afterward, he said, 'No, no, I would have been fine.' But we didn't want to go [with] any risks. It's just knee on knee, bruise, that's it. It was fine."

Mac Allister was one of three players replaced at the break, with Ibrahima Konate, Luis Diaz, and Darwin Nunez coming on for him, Joel Matip, and Diogo Jota.

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It had all been looking so positive for Liverpool, who went ahead after two minutes through Cody Gakpo.

Things improved further when Virgil van Dijk, newly installed as permanent captain, made it 2-0 inside the first half hour.

But Thomas Tuchel's Bayern responded well, halving the deficit, first through Serge Gnarby and then equalising through Leroy Sane.

The changes at half-time saw Gakpo slot into a midfield role, replacing Allister, with Nunez up top leading the attack. 

Liverpool retook the lead after the interval through Diaz, but Bayern snatched victory with two goals in the final 10 minutes.

Josip Stanisic brought them level, and Frans Kratzig completed the comeback in the first minute of added time.