The Brazilian was the club's best player at Wembley, but will be unavailable until mid-April after injuring himself in the shoot-out defeat, leaving the Reds light at the back
Lucas Leiva is expected to be sidelined for five to six weeks as he nurses a quad injury picked up in Liverpool’s League Cup final loss to Manchester City.
The Brazilian, who was stationed at centre-back in the showpiece last Sunday, had a small knock and exacerbated the problem when taking his side’s second penalty in the 3-1 shoot-out defeat.
The 29-year-old sat out the 3-0 demolition of Manuel Pellegrini’s men at Anfield on Wednesday night as the Reds avenged their Wembley heartache in the Premier League encounter.
And at Melwood on Thursday afternoon, Jurgen Klopp confirmed a lengthy absence for the defensive midfielder.
The Reds boss hoped the issue was minor, but Lucas is not set to be looking at a return until mid-April.
“Lucas is really unfortunate. It’s a little bit more serious,” Klopp said. “I’ve never heard about an injury you get like this, from a penalty, but it was only because he was a little bit injured before.
“He didn’t feel too much but after the shot it was done. [It’s a] quad – I don’t know exactly but five or six weeks [out], not too good.”
Mamadou Sakho, meanwhile, has returned to training following a clash of heads with Emre Can at Wembley. Daniel Sturridge is also looking sharp after suffering with cramp at the national stadium.
“Mama did a little bit today for the first time, but we didn’t really do a lot because it was the second day after a game.
“The only session we have is tomorrow and we have to see how he is then, but today was the first day he did a little bit more.
“And Daniel Sturridge trained completely normally yesterday.”
- Goal