Sturridge misses Audi Cup final but plays down injury scare
Striker Daniel Sturridge missed Liverpool's Audi Cup final against Atletico Madrid at the Allianz Arena this morning (Singapore time) after an injury scare.
The 27-year-old was substituted as a precautionary measure having sustained a thigh problem when scoring in yesterday morning's 3-0 win over hosts Bayern Munich.
Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah also scored for the Reds.
Sturridge did not feature in this morning's final, but the club have not ruled him out of any other games, with the Reds due to face Athletic Bilbao in Dublin on Saturday.
"Sturridge will be treated at the club's training base in Rottach-Egern today and the issue will continue to be monitored, although there are no plans for a scan to take place in Germany," said a Liverpool statement.
After the win over Bayern, manager Juergen Klopp said he hoped Sturridge's injury was not serious, but the player himself was more upbeat.
"It's just a little bit of tension kicking off," Sturridge said in his post-match television interview.
"I've done a lot of running and a lot of work. We train on the morning of the games. I think it's just a bit of fatigue to be honest. I'll be okay.
"I'm feeling great, I've put in a lot of work, I trained a lot in the summer in LA.
"I haven't missed many sessions here, they're looking after me, we have done triple sessions and things like that.
"I've trained nearly every session. I'm feeling the best I've felt for a little while and I'm looking forward to the season and, hopefully, we can have some success."
Despite the impressive win over Bayern, Klopp was not about to wax lyrical about the performance.
"We won 3-0, but I don't like running around saying, 'How good was this?', because it wasn't," he said.
"In a few parts of course it was good, in a few other parts everyone saw that Bayern had the ball too often and it was too easy to play through our lines.
"I cannot ignore this on a day like today.
"Yes it looks good, but they need to get fit and stay fit and hard and resistant because the season will be difficult. That is what we are preparing for.
"I have to speak about things that are not good because I see it.
"And it is not that I am trying to make the league afraid, 'Oh my God, Liverpool beat Bayern 3-0 and they can do better'.
"We have to do better and that is what we are working on." - WIRE SERVICES
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