Jurgen Klopp suffers injury blow as Diogo Jota is sent home early from Portugal duty with a knock 

Liverpool have suffered an injury blow ahead of their Premier League clash at Watford on Saturday.

Forward Diogo Jota has been sent home early from international duty with a slight knock after missing Portugal’s 3-0 friendly victory over Qatar last weekend. 

Portugal face Luxembourg in World Cup qualifiers on Tuesday night and Jota has now been ruled out of the clash, according to The Athletic.

Jurgen Klopp (left) could be without Diogo Jota (right) for the Liverpool’s game at Watford

The 24-year-old was sent home early from international duty for Portugal with a slight knock 

Portugal face Luxembourg in their World Cup qualifying clash against on Tuesday night 

The news puts the 24-year-old’s involvement in Liverpool’s Premier League fixture against Watford at the weekend at risk as he has not played a single minute for Portugal over the international break.

A statement from the Portuguese FA said: ‘Diogo Jota was dismissed by the National Selector, Fernando Santos, after being considered unavailable by the FPF Health and Performance Unit to face Luxembourg, in a meeting to be held this Tuesday.’ 

Santos had previously revealed in his pre-match press conference for his side’s clash against Luxembourg that Jota had not been training with the rest of the team.

‘He trained a while ago, increased the intensity today with Joao Brito, but he didn’t train with us,’ he said.

‘The probability will be little. I’ll talk to him, see how he feels. 

‘If we see that he has any conditions to be on the bench and then come in, that’s fine.

Portugal boss Fernando Santos has revealed that Jota had not been training with the team

‘If we don’t, we won’t take the risk with a player who hasn’t been able to train with us for a long time.

‘I’ll make the decision shortly, and if he can’t play, he’ll head to Liverpool.’

Jota has been a focal point for Jurgen Klopp’s side this season, replacing Roberto Firmino as the No 9 in Liverpool’s star-studded attack, and has started six of their seven league matches.

The 24-year-old has notched three goals in nine matches in all competitions as the Reds have made a promising start to the 2021-22 campaign.

There is also a risk that Klopp could face Watford without Alisson and Fabinho as they are unlikely to come back from Brazil duty until after the early hours of Friday morning, while Trent Alexander-Arnold and Thiago remain doubts.

Klopp’s side are in second place in the Premier League, just one point behind leaders Chelsea and have also won their first two Champions League group matches.