Liverpool fans received some disappointing news Friday evening. Ibrahima Konate has been ruled out for Sunday's visit of Man City and looks set to sidelined for the entire Christmas period.
Liverpool insider Dave O'Connell reported that Konate would miss 5-6 weeks because of the injury suffered at the end of Wednesday's game against Real Madrid.
Konate and Virgil van Dijk have been the rocks at the heart of Liverpool's hugely impressive start to the season under Arne Slot and Konate's absence serves up a genuine challenge for Liverpool.
Martin Skrtel is one man who knows a few things about anchoring the defense at Liverpool and he had huge praise for Konate when speaking during the launch of Ladbrokes' "Gaffer of all Accas" at the start of this week.
There's something special about the way Liverpool are playing at the moment, and how they're reacting to going behind in games; they won't accept defeat as an option,
As a former centre-back, I'm of course in a good place to talk about the partnership of Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk, and in my opinion, we're talking about maybe the best centre-back partnership in Europe - especially Konate.,
I can remember Konate from his time at RB Leipzig, and while everybody was talking about Dayot Upamecano, I really, really liked Konate.
This season, he's just looked even stronger, not only for Liverpool, but for the French team as well.
I just hope they can stay fit, because they're such a strong partnership, and they're so key for Liverpool's success at the moment.
Sadly - from a Liverpool perspective - the injury bug would bite Konate right when he's playing some of the best football of his career. Skrtel went on to rank Konate beside Salah as Liverpool's best players this season.
He posted the following message to instagram tonight
So frustrating to pick up this injury right at the end of a great game on Wednesday night. Now we start the recovery process but one thing I promise is I will come back and be the best I can be once again. Thank you for the amazing support at Anfield. Inshallah we will keep going and I will support the team every step of the way.
