We should have got Aston Villa to play in Qatar, jokes Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp

The club are to employ a split squad scenario after their last-eight tie was confirmed for its original date of December 17, the day before the team play a Club World Cup semi-final in Doha.

Fixture congestion – the Reds have already had to postpone one Premier League match to fit in their trip to the Gulf – meant it was impossible to fit in the tie before the scheduled semi-final first leg in early January.

So Liverpool have reluctantly agreed to fulfil both fixtures using the full extent of their extended first-team squad and youth team players.

“We asked Aston Villa if they would come to Qatar and we can play the game there!” said Klopp.

“We have an idea how we do it, but it’s too early to speak about it. We made a decision because all the other alternatives were more problems than solutions, so we said ‘OK’.

“This is how we can do it as good as possible for us. We have a bit of time to think about that, and more important things to do.

“In these next couple of weeks we will make a decision about how it will look exactly. But in the end, they will play a Liverpool team, 100 per cent.”

Asked if they were put under pressure to play the League Cup game, he said: “Kind of! Do you want to be really in trouble with FIFA? No. Do we want to be in trouble with the EFL? Probably not. We respect the competition.

“It sounds like we don’t like the Carabao Cup, which is not true. What I don’t like is that it’s two legs in the semi-final. I don’t understand that and I don’t like that in the busiest period.

“The Club World Cup, you only play if you win the Champions League, and that doesn’t happen in your life five million times.

“You take the opportunity.”

There is only one fixture which matters to Klopp’s side at the moment, however, and that is Sunday’s visit of Manchester City.

“The most important thing; we won and nobody is injured,” Klopp added after their 2-1 victory over Genk on Tuesday night.