Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp rules out dividing his squad to play in Club World Cup and Carabao Cup

Klopp does not want to completely split up his squad

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has ruled out the prospect of leaving players behind to play a Carabao Cup quarter-final against Aston Villa while the rest of the squad fly to Qatar for the Club World Cup.

However, he admits they did have talks about fielding two separate sides as fixture congestion takes hold.

The Reds will be in the Middle East when their last-eight tie against Villa was scheduled to be played but it now looks like being pushed back until early January.

“We discussed it. We have to as there is not too much time to make that decision. But no final decision yet,” Klopp said.

“If we did play while in Qatar it would be two different teams but we cannot leave any players at home for the Carabao Cup.

“We have two games there (in Qatar) in a very busy period. It is not that we can go there with 11 players and say these 11 guys play two games in Qatar and the other guys play back home against Aston Villa.

“It doesn’t work like that. We will make a decision but not yet.”