Klopp cautious ahead of Genk clash, hopeful on Salah return

SHOWS:

GENK, BELGIUM (OCTOBER 22, 2019) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL)

1. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JURGEN KLOPP, SAYING:

"Yeah that (Mohamed Salah's chances of returning from injury for Wednesday's fixture) looks promising, to be honest. And yesterday we were not sure, still, and today it looked good so we have to wait how he reacts overnight. We will not take any risk of it - today it looked really good. That was important. And (Alexander) Trent and Joel (Matip) are not even here so then it's clear that they will probably not be available for tomorrow."

2. WHITE FLASH

3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIVERPOOL MANAGER, JURGEN KLOPP, SAYING:

"And Tim's answer: there is no (UEFA) Champions League game that is straight forward. I think let's just...If we saw (Racing) Genk - and it makes absolute sense that you do that before you judge an opponent - if you saw Genk against (FC) Salzburg, not only the result, the game, then you would have said after half an hour: which result would you suggest and the result that was there at the end would not be part of any ideas of anybody. So, because (it) just didn't look like that. Then they lost a game and then against Napoli they were against really good. We don't want to make Genk bigger than they are. But they are in the Champions League and they play good football and they are at home and they can be annoying - what they were against Napoli. Napoli had big chances but Genk had parts of the game. They play good football, it's a brave team. They became last year champion in Belgium, which is not easy."

STORY: Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp is cautiously optimistic ahead of his side's UEFA Champions League game against Racing Genk on Wednesday (October 23) with the hope that his team can grab another win and the possibility of a Mohamed Salah return to the side.

Genk held on to clinch a draw against Liverpool's primary qualification contenders, Napoli, in a match which was widely considered an upset. Napoli fielded a weakened side after previously beating Liverpool, with Dries Mertens and Lorenzo Insigne left out of the starting line-up.

Salah could return from ankle injury in time for the clash in Belgium, with Klopp saying the forward looked promising in training earlier in the day back home. Liverpool saw their Premier League winning run curtailed in a 1-1 draw with local rivals Manchester United earlier this week and will hope to bounce back to winning ways.

Liverpool defenders Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joel Matip have been ruled out of the tie with injuries.