Liverpool star Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has indicated that he has been left baffled by the scheduling of the European champions' EFL Cup quarter-final tie.
Oxlade-Chamberlain has been heavily involved in Liverpool’s run to the quarter-finals of the competition this season, but the Reds are facing a tough choice to make next month.
They are scheduled to take on Aston Villa in the quarter-final on 17th December and just 24 hours later they are slated to feature in the FIFA Club World Cup semi-final in Qatar.
Liverpool will field two different teams in the two competitions as they bid to keep to their commitments, but Oxlade-Chamberlain has indicated his exasperation about the situation the club are facing.
He insisted that Liverpool have put in a lot of effort in the EFL Cup this season and he is hopeful that they can put a team out that can go on to beat Aston Villa in the quarter-final.
The former Arsenal man stressed that the players have taken the competition seriously when they have played and he is not interested in just giving up on winning it this season despite the complicated situation the club have found themselves in.
Oxlade-Chamberlain said on LFC TV after the Reds beat Genk: “I don’t know what’s going on with it.
“I heard about this earlier, but I don’t know what’s going on.
“I don’t really have much to say and I don’t know who is going to play where.
“But whoever does, I hope they go to Aston Villa and win because we put in a really good shift in the first two games.
“I was part of both those games and I know we put a lot into that both physically and mentally.
“Say what you want about that trophy, but when I was playing in the games I wanted to win.
“The young boys – we all wanted to do as well as we can and we have given ourselves a good chance to do that.
“It is not a competition I just want to give up on and not go for it.”
It remains to be seen whether Jurgen Klopp decides to leave his big guns in England or take his best team to Qatar to earn the tag of world champions.
