Liverpool Fans Take to Social Media to React to News of Joel Matip's Injury

Liverpool fans have reacted to news that defender Joel Matip will miss Wednesday's Champions League game against Spartak Moscow.

The Cameroon international was absent from the squad that beat Brighton 5-1 in the Premier League last weekend due to a muscular injury suffered against Stoke.

Matip will not return to fitness in time for the midweek fixture, although manager Jurgen Klopp has denied claims that he could be set for up to a month on the sidelines.

"He has hurt his muscle," the German coach said, quoted by Sky Sports. "I don't know how long exactly he'll be out, but he's definitely not playing Wednesday.

"A month? No, I don't think so. But as always, it's possible. We have to wait. But it's possible that it will be shorter. We will see."

Liverpool have been faced with something of a defensive injury crisis, and were forced to field a back three of Dejan Lovren, Emre Can and Georginio Wijnaldum on Saturday.

Klopp could be left with another dilemma as to who he picks against Spartak Moscow after the makeshift defence dealt relatively well with Brighton, although Reds fans are evidently concerned over the lack of options at the back.

"Emre needs to do that, like Gini can do that. They have to do it, we don't have anybody else," Klopp said of his stand-in defenders.

"I enjoyed it. It was like 'wow, interesting'. We had 20 minutes in training and then we spoke for a little bit in the team meeting before the game again about it.

"But it's not long. It was clear it wouldn't be perfect, but the boys were ready to cope with the difficulties of the new system. They did really well."