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Jurgen Klopp says it is 'crazy' that the World Cup starts less than a week after the domestic season halts, as the list of absentees in Qatar grows.

Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Klopp was asked by GOAL about the pressures facing managers and players, who know that an injury at this stage would likely deny them the chance of representing their country at the biggest tournament in football. The likes of Paul Pogba, N'Golo Kante, Timo Werner and Diogo Jota have already been ruled out through injury, while others such as Son Heung-min, Romelu Lukaku, Raphael Varane, Ben Chilwell and Reece James are facing a race against time to be fit.

Klopp said: "I hate this subject! These problems were so clear, they were so clear, and nobody mentioned it one time until three or four weeks before the World Cup. And now all of a sudden players get injured and you say ‘he cannot play the World Cup, wow!’.

"This situation, players getting injured late in the season and missing the World Cup, is not new. After a long season it happens everywhere in the world. But now starting the World Cup a week after the last game, that is a bigger risk. Crazy.