Topics: Alisson, Diogo Jota, Liverpool, Manchester City, FA Community Shield
The Reds have a number of fitness issues ahead of their weekend showdown with the Premier League champions.

Huge blow for Liverpool as star player is ruled out for Community Shield clash vs Man City

With the Premier League season being just over a week away from kick off, Liverpool and Manchester City will face off in the traditional curtain raiser: the Community Shield. 

England's two top teams will lock horns at the King Power Stadium as both sides look to start the 2022/23 campaign on a high. Unfortunately, Jurgen Klopp's men have been rocked with a huge blow as one of their star players will miss this showdown with the Cityzens.

That man is none other than Alisson, the world-class Brazilian goalkeeper who is regarded as one of football's finest last line of defense. Given that Manchester City signing Erling Haaland will likely feature in this game, having scored against Bayern Munich 12 minutes into his debut, Klopp could have done with his undisputed shot-stopper.

Alisson picked up an abdominal injury during the club's pre-season tour of Asia and has been out since. While there was optimism that he would recover in time for the Community Shield, the German manager has now revealed that this is no longer the case.

However, it isn't all bad news. With the Reds set to kick off their Premier League campaign against Fulham on August 6, Klopp expects their goalkeeper to be fully fit for the trip to Craven Cottage, having already returned to training. Additionally, Caoimhin Kelleher has also been ruled out for this tie, meaning Adrian is destined to start in between the sticks against De Bruyne and Co.

Similarly, Diogo Jota is sidelined, having missed the trip to Austria due to fitness issues. While Liverpool will wish to welcome their Portuguese attacker back to the squad as soon as possible, this isn't severe as summer signing Darwin Nunez was likely to lead the line for the Merseyside giants.

The Uruguayan did not enjoy the best pre-season campaign, with some even labelling the former Benfica goalscorer as a flop after a few poor displays. Nonetheless, expect Nunez to go head-to-head with Haaland in this weekend's FA Community Shield.