Liverpool's Brazilian duo Alisson Becker and Fabinho will travel directly to Spain from international duty to complete their Covid-19 quarantine.

Liverpool hope they will be able to face Atletico, before they return to the UK after the rest of the team.

Brazil have just played World Cup qualifiers in Colombia and Venezuela.

Both of those countries are on the UK's red list.

"We had to sort quarantine issues and the decision we made is the boys will not be here [Liverpool]," said Reds boss Jurgen Klopp.

"They will go directly to Madrid, wait there for us, hopefully be able to play against Atletico, then will come back slightly later than us, so then they can come back in our normal procedure again.

"Obviously they could have flown into England but with all the quarantine stuff that would have meant they would have to isolate from their families.

"Ali has three kids and being away with the national teams and then 10 days in isolation with the same rubbish again... we need solutions for that and they are still not there.

"They have played in Brazil [against Uruguay on Thursday night] so they already had four days there not in a red list country and that's what counts.

"Then another six days not in a red list country, then they can come back and start immediately - so even when they go from bubble to bubble to bubble, it is still 10 days and for us that is the solution."

It means Alisson and Fabinho will miss Saturday's visit to Watford in the Premier League.

Liverpool will also be without Curtis Jones, who was injured on England Under-21 duty, and Thiago Alcantara, who is still not ready to return from a calf injury.

Klopp is unhappy at England's handling of midfielder Jones and the lack of communication between the two parties.

"It is really difficult to get in proper contact even with the English federation because they do what they want," he said.

"He didn't train, wasn't involved in the first game and then he played a few minutes in the second game against Andorra - great. Very important he played there. Came back with a slight injury and not available tomorrow [Saturday].

"These are the situations we have to deal with and this is why we have these massive squads where we use players like machines.

"When the federations don't start helping us - and I mean all of them, whoever it is, the Premier League, the FA - they have to think about the game and not their own interests but that is how it is in the moment.

"I've talked about it for six or seven years but no-one is listening."

Like Klopp, Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has been forced to contend with the absence of key personnel because of international commitments.

Tuchel will be without defender Thiago Silva for Saturday's trip to Brentford after the 37-year-old played 90 minutes for Brazil against Uruguay on Thursday.

But Tuchel admitted he and his fellow Premier League managers feel as though they have little sway in changing a match calendar he feels is too congested for the players.

"I've got used to a lot of things in national breaks, this is how it is nowadays," said the German.

"Are we happy about it, all the coaches with the amount of games our players play for their countries? No, we are not. Does anybody ask us if we want to change anything? Also, no. So it's nothing new.

"We speak about it during the Uefa coaches' meetings, but it's the calendar. And after that you have to accept it. I'm not even too frustrated about it."

Tuchel added: "I don't like it, I think it's too many games, too many competitions for the top players in the clubs. The game is for the players and the spectators.

"And the spectators want to have the top players on the pitch, they want them healthy, fit and hungry. And you cannot always provide it if you play so many games in so many different competitions."

But while Tuchel is without Silva, Tottenham manager Nuno Espirito Santo has not ruled out the possibility of his four South American players being involved at Newcastle on Sunday.

Argentine pair Cristian Romero and Giovani lo Celso, Colombia's Davinson Sanchez and Emerson Royal of Brazil are travelling to London having played World Cup qualifiers over the past fortnight.

"They are travelling now," said Santo. "They will join us tomorrow and then we'll see. Then we'll see."

Source: BBC News

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