Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has confessed that Cody Gakpo may have sustained a serious injury in his side's 2-1 loss to Tottenham Hotspur in North London.
Having been given the nod against Leicester City in the EFL Cup in midweek, the Dutchman was expected to drop to the bench for the Premier League showdown with Ange Postecoglou's team.
However, with Darwin Nunez suffering from a small bone issue, Gakpo held his spot alongside Mohamed Salah and Luis Diaz, but his race was run before the Reds emerged for the second half.
As the first half entered its dying embers, a 10-man Liverpool side - who lost Curtis Jones to an early red card - were seeking to restore parity after Son Heung-min propelled the hosts into the lead with 36 minutes played.
Just before the whistle sounded, Virgil van Dijk headed a Dominik Szoboszlai cross down to Gakpo, who received the ball with his back to goal and produced a slick turn before firing home.
The former PSV Eindhoven man had been the victim of a late challenge from Destiny Udogie before notching Liverpool's equaliser, though, and he immediately dropped to the turf in pain during the celebrations.
Diogo Jota replaced Gakpo for the second half, but the Portuguese was soon banished from the field for two bookable offences, as a last-gasp Joel Matip own goal cruelly sent Liverpool home empty-handed.
Asked for an update on Gakpo's condition after the game, Klopp revealed that the 24-year-old had to leave the stadium with his leg in a brace, and there are fears that his problem could be a severe one.
"The biggest problem of the game, to be honest... before Cody Gakpo scored, we got a free-kick and he got injured and he is now with a brace limping down the corridor," Klopp said.
"That's my biggest problem, to be honest, in this moment. We lost two [to red cards] and maybe a third player - really bad, really bad. So, yes, that's something we have to deal with obviously."
When questioned on whether the Netherlands international's injury was "bad", Klopp responded: "Possibly, I don't know. He wore a brace. He scored a goal but afterwards, but after that shot he felt it even more. It was from the foul before.
Meanwhile, Nunez was stripped and ready to come on at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, only for Klopp to revert to defensive substitutions when his side went down to nine men after Jota's sending-off.
Trent Alexander-Arnold was one of the Reds' second-half replacements following his hamstring problem, as a furious Liverpool were left to rue Matip's unfortunate own goal and an incorrect VAR decision in the first half.
Diaz ran through to score what would have been the game's first goal in the 34th minute, but the linesman's offside flag was wrongly raised, and the officials at Stockley Park failed to overturn the decision.
The PGMOL admitted to the "significant human error" in a statement as Liverpool travelled home sitting fourth in the Premier League table, having seen their 17-game unbeaten run in the top flight come to an agonising end. body check tags ::
