Klopp positive on Oxlade-Chamberlain injury

The German is excited about the potential return of the former Arsenal player as he makes his way back from the sidelines

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has offered a positive update on the fitness of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain after the midfielder featured in an Under-23s game.

The Englishman was set to play the first half but was replaced five minutes before half-time after feeling some discomfort.

However, Klopp has eased fans' fears about a setback for the former Arsenal player, who was playing his first game since sustaining knee ligament damage towards the end of last season.

“It’s not really surprising, it’s normal. The good news is the knee is perfect – nothing happened, that was our only concern,” Klopp told the club's official website.

“Football games are different to football training, that’s why he felt the muscle a little bit, and thank God we were smart enough to take him off, even if it was only five minutes earlier than we thought [before the game]. That made absolute sense. Nothing else happened."

The German urged patience with the midfielder's recovery but admitted he was looking forward to working with Oxlade-Chamberlain competitively again.

“We always said he needs time. Maybe I’m a bit guilty of being too excited about it; if nobody asked me I wouldn’t start talking about Ox, to be honest, but they ask me and I say the truth – and the truth was it looked so exciting in training. But it’s only small-sided games, shooting situations and all that.

“It’s Ox, we all know and love him, that’s cool, but, at the end of the day, we all need to make sure we are ready for the big-size pitch. And for this he just needs time. It’s all good.”

Liverpool face Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena in the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie next, before travelling to Craven Cottage to take on Fulham as they look to keep the pressure on league leaders Manchester City in the Premier League, who maintain a one-point gap on the Reds.