JURGEN KLOPP has confirmed Alisson Becker has a "serious injury" - but insists the Liverpool keeper CAN return this season.
The Premier League leaders have been relying on Caoimhin Kelleher since the Brazilian suffered a hamstring problem in mid-February.
Anfield boss Klopp said: “Alisson has suffered a serious injury, not a short one.
“There is no real timescale on it, but it is proper muscle injury. It’s not a short one.
“It is a rather serious one, but NOT a season-ending injury”.
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Alisson first sat out the 3-1 home win over Burnley on February 10 with illness.
He then hurt his hamstring and missed the next match seven days later, a 4-1 league triumph at Brentford.
Republic of Ireland star Kelleher, 25, deputised each time for the 31-year-old - plus three more victories since then.
A 4-1 success over Luton and Wednesday's 3-0 FA Cup KO of Southampton - both at Anfield - sandwiched his greatest achievement so far.
That saw Kelleher produce star man heroics in last Sunday's 1-0 Carabao Cup final win over Chelsea.
Liverpool now visit Nottingham Forest in the Prem on Saturday - a club who tried to sign him in January.
But Klopp has denied coming close to selling Kelleher.
He said: “For me it was never a discussion.
"We spoke about it but for me there was no chance of him leaving so I was not interested in who was asking."
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