Liverpool face a major fitness concern ahead of their bombshell arrival Premier League Alexander Isak clashed with Manchester City after withdrawing from Sweden’s squad due to injury.
The Swedish Football Association confirmed on Sunday that the 27-year-old forward will miss Sweden’s remaining three games. federation of nations group stage fixtures and has returned to Merseyside for assessment.
In-form Isaac scored in Sweden’s 2-1 win over Romania on Friday night but suffered a muscle strain.
He will now miss Monday’s match against Poland, as well as the upcoming group stage games against Bosnia and Herzegovina and against Romania.
Burnley centre-back Hjalmar Ekdal also left training camp injured, with Sweden confirming it has yet to call in any replacement.
The timing causes unnecessary trouble for Liverpool, especially given the excellent form Isak has shown since the start of the season. The Sweden international moved to Anfield from Newcastle United last summer for £125m and is currently second in the Premier League’s goalscoring charts with four goals in five games.
Isaac started his season at Anfield against Nottingham Forest before scoring a decisive brace away at Ipswich Town before adding a crucial winner away to Bournemouth.
Neither Liverpool nor Sweden have revealed the exact nature or severity of the problem, but the Reds will be desperate to have their leading marksman back ahead of a tough series of games.
Liverpool returned to action after the international break on October 11, facing defending champions Manchester City at Anfield, before making a quick comeback in the UEFA Champions League three days later, visiting Austrian side LASK Linz.
Before then we have a trip to Brentford, a home game against Villarreal and a league game against Brighton as the autumn fixture list approaches.