Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has revealed that Kostas Tsimikas sustained a broken collarbone in the Reds' 1-1 draw with Arsenal in Saturday's Premier League encounter at Anfield.
With Andrew Robertson on the way back from his own dislocated shoulder, which is not expected to heal fully until January, Tsimikas unsurprisingly started at left-back for the visit of the league leaders.
Tsimikas had the daunting task of trying to keep Bukayo Saka quiet, and the pair were involved in an intense touchline tussle in the first half, which ended with Saka outmuscling the Greek left-back and inadvertently shoving him into Klopp's path.
The Liverpool manager was taken out by the falling Tsimikas, who stayed down in the technical area while Klopp quickly rose to his feet, although he was eventually helped up by the medical team.
However, Tsimikas was in visible discomfort and was forced to call it a night in the 35th minute, as Joe Gomez saw out the remainder of the game on the left-hand side of the backline.
Speaking to reporters in his post-game press conference, Klopp confirmed that Tsimikas had broken his collarbone in the collision, which will rule the Greece international out for an extended period.
"He [Tsimikas] broke his collarbone at least. That's really bad for us," said Klopp, who is now without a single senior left-back as Robertson and Tsimikas recover from their afflictions.
Saka was also asked about the incident by Sky Sports News following the game, and the Arsenal winger offered his apologies to Tsimikas, whom he learned was admitted to hospital.
"I heard he has gone to hospital so obviously I want to apologise to him, I didn't mean it of course. For me it was a 50/50 and I have gone shoulder to shoulder with him," Saka said.
"I didn't see it but he must have taken a bad fall, I didn't see him go into Jurgen Klopp either. I was focused on running forward because I didn't think it was a foul. That's my take on it."
The Reds were also handed a fresh concern over Luis Diaz, who sustained his severe knee injury in last season's loss to Arsenal at the Emirates, and an issue in the same area forced him off the field in the 68th minute.
However, Klopp allayed fears of a serious problem for the Colombian, who described his pain as "little" after the match, adding: "I hope not. He has pain, it was knee on knee and in that moment we wanted to change twice and then Lucho was down.
"And actually we first wanted to wait if maybe Lucho has to come off but then we decided [to] change all three because now we don't have to wait how Lucho is and that's what we did then.
"Lucho told me 'little pain', physios were not too concerned, but you never know and we play in three days and you never know how quick the turnaround is, so we have to see. I don't know."
Liverpool fell behind with just four minutes on the clock against Arsenal courtesy of a Gabriel Magalhaes header, but Mohamed Salah's emphatic finish rescued a point for the hosts in a frenetic end-to-end battle.
A draw was enough for Klopp's side to rise back above Aston Villa into second place in the table, and the Reds only have two days to recover before a trip to Burnley on Boxing Day. body check tags ::
