Ibrahima Konate will be available for Liverpool’s Champions League clash with Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday night despite the worrying nature of his injury yesterday. The centre-back was sent off at half-time in the 2-1 win over Brighton.

Konate appeared to injure his left arm and made a makeshift sling out of his shirt as he walked away, obviously in agony. The problem arose in an accidental collision with captain Virgil van Dijk.

The Dutch defender said afterwards: “I think I headed him on the arm. I hope it’s not too bad, we’ll just have to wait and see. You can be quite good as a player with an arm injury, so we hope it will be fine.”

And after the Frenchman underwent post-match scans, Liverpool hope Konate can be in the squad to face Leverkusen. That’s because they think his problem isn’t a fracture or tear, but cuts and tissue damage.

Konate said on social media: “Thank you for all the messages of support. Fortunately my injury is not serious. I had a scan today and it confirmed that there is no break. I will be ready for the next game. Inshallah.”

The 25-year-old appeared, who started every one Premier League and this season’s Champions League game since the opening day, will be set for a spell on the sidelines due to the pain he was in during the departure.

But after being checked, the Reds breathe a sigh of relief. They have the best defensive record in the Premier League and Konate was a big part of that alongside Van Dijk.

And Liverpool he must be at his best to cope with a busy schedule of matches in the coming weeks. After Leverkusen, they host Aston Villa at Anfield in a late kick on Saturday, while Southampton, Real Madrid, Manchester City, Newcastle and Everton lie in wait after the international break.

Having Konate available will allow Arne Slott to better rotate his backline with Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah available to the Dutch coach. Gomez replaced Konate at half-time against Brighton and was excellent in a rare appearance in his favored centre-half role.

The Englishman was close to scoring his first point Liverpool goal and had his name sung loudly by the Kop. He told LFCTV after the game: “It’s always special. Obviously this is home for me and the club means everything to me.

“But the most important thing, it’s a cliché, but we won and we keep the momentum going for a big game in the Champions League.”

Slot said of Gomez: “That says a lot about his mindset today. That says a lot about his quality; if you don’t play that much and you walk into a game where your teammates have been outplayed for 45 minutes. , that you can come in and play like that.

“And it says a lot about his mentality in the last few weeks and months when he hasn’t played that much that he is now able, without playing much, to play 90 minutes on Wednesday and put in a performance like this on Saturday.

“But that’s what people told me when I came in – that Joe is a top, top, top professional who will always give, no matter what position he’s in, the best for the team and for himself in the latter. We were rewarded for that today because I think the fans liked what they saw – we certainly did.”