September 12, (THEWILL) – The 3-nil victory of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool against Leeds United at Elland Road on Sunday was marred by another severe early season injury for the Reds. This time around, the midfielder Harvey Elliott needed to be stretchered off with a serious ankle injury sustained in the second half of the tie.
It was an ugly scene when the 18-year-old, who overcame a pre-match niggle to take his place in the starting lineup, came down under a challenge from Leeds defender Pascal Struijk. The trajectory of Elliott’s growth, which saw him keep more experienced midfielders Jordan Henderson and Naby Keita on the bench, will now be suspended.
Klopp was furious on the sidelines as Elliott was one of the bright performers for an hour at Elland Road, helping Liverpool take a 2-0 lead. When the stretcher was required, the rationale for Klopp’s anger was clear, the teenager had suffered a serious injury.
There was a period of paused anxiety as he was quickly tended to by medical personnel from both teams. The 18-year-old appeared to be in significant pain, but was at least able to respond to the generous round of applause he received from both sets of supporters as the stretcher took him out.
Referee Craig Pawson red-carded Struijk more for the severity of the injury to Elliott than a reflection of malicious intent on the part of the Leeds defender, who was on as a first half substitute for the injured Diego Llorente.
In post-match comments about the injury to Elliott, Klopp said: “It is a bad injury. [The] ankle, I heard it was dislocated and they could put it back in. He’s now in the hospital. We have to wait, obviously. He played again an incredible game, he’s an incredible player, and now he’s out.
“Do I want such a young boy having this experience that early in his career? No. But now it’s the case and we have to be there, and we will be there. We will play football without him but obviously we will wait for him as well because he’s a top, top, top player.”
Also providing some context to the incident later, Elliott’s team captain Virgil van Dijk said: “All our thoughts and prayers are going to Harvey. Hopefully he recovers quickly and as well as possible from it. Obviously we don’t know the diagnosis but it looked bad.
“From the moment it happened, I think you saw Mo shouting to the sides showing it was serious.”
However, Elliott himself put a positive spin on the incident as he used his Instagram post to thank fans for the initial wave of get well messages that have been posted on his behalf.
As for the rest of the game after Elliott’s stretcher left and Leeds were reduced to 10 men, Liverpool simply continued their complete control of the tie. The numeric disadvantage did not help Leeds improve their second half after being pinned to their own half in the first period.
Aside from the incident, Mohamed Salah, who first signalled for help upon seeing Elliott’s twisted ankle, opened the scoring after a fine cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold, to complete his 100th goal for the Anfield side.
Fabinho, who was able to play after FIFA opted against imposing a ban on clubs who prevented players from South America travelling to World Cup qualifiers, doubled the score just four minutes after the interval.
Sadio Mane added a late third to put a gloss on a comfortable win for the Reds and soften the mood soiled by the nasty injury to their teenage midfielder. Klopp will be hoping it is not more of the same this season as they climb up to joint first with the pair of Chelsea and Manchester United after Matchday four.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
