Jurgen Klopp will face pressure to clarify his comments about the high number of Covid false positives recorded in Liverpool’s squad during an outbreak of the virus last week.
The Reds closed their Melwood training base and were forced to cancel their League Cup semi-final against Arsenal after recording more than 20 cases. But Klopp said on Sunday only Trent Alexander-Arnold proved to be a genuine case.
Such a high number of “false positives” would be unusual but the EFL confirmed on Tuesday they were satisfied with the evidence Liverpool provided to back up their request for a postponement.
A round of lateral flow tests found a high number of cases before a second round of PCR tests, generally considered the gold standard of Covid testing, backed up those initial tests and led to the postponement. This was the same protocol that every club in the EFL has been using this season and league sources say bosses remain “confident” that every procedure was followed properly.
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“We had last week a proper outbreak and it showed up that we had a lot of false positives but the rules are like they are, so all these players who are false positives couldn’t play,” Klopp explained.
“The only real positive came from Trent Alexander-Arnold and all the rest were false positives.”
The Reds boss will face questioning on Wednesday as the Anfield club hold their pre-game press call before the re-arranged Arsenal game. Reports on Monday night suggested some clubs had raised concerns with authorities about the process and had questions about the timing of the third round of tests.
But a source told i that there had been no official complaint about Liverpool’s postponement last night and no request for clarification on their regulations around Covid protocols.
The EFL has scrapped mandatory matchday testing among its member clubs in order to prevent last minute cancellations which were hitting supporters in the pocket.
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