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Why is Liverpool's James Milner wearing a bandage on his head? Gruesome reason revealed
JAMES MILNER led out Liverpool for the first game of the season in the absence of club captain Jordan Henderson - but the band around his arm was not the only strapping he was seen wearing.
Liverpool travelled to Dublin last weekend to take on Napoli in their final friendly of the pre-season.
And while the Reds secured a comfortable 5-0 win, it was not all good news for Jurgen Klopp’s men as Milner clashed heads with Napoli full-back Mario Rui.
The Englishman suffered a gash on the forehead and while he did not require a stretcher and walked off, he did so with a club physiotherapist stemming the flow of blood from his head.
“I knew that he would get stitches because we saw it on the pitch,” Klopp said immediately after the game.
“He’s in the dressing room so I have to see him first before I can say more.
“That’s obviously the big shadow over that game.”
Milner’s importance to the side is currently inflated by the absence of Henderson, both in terms of a midfield presence and as the vice-captain.
He has made 96 Premier League appearances for the club since joining from Manchester City in 2015 and looked like he might have to wait until the second weekend of the season to make his 97th.
Milner did indeed need 15 stitches in a sizeable gash above his right eye and was seen training with a variety of different bandages on during the week at training.
But manager Klopp never appeared overly concerned that the midfielder might miss the season opener against West Ham at Anfield.
"He should be okay. He is working with a headband, all of them different colours and all of them suit him!” Klopp said.
“It is a pretty long cut. But it is Milly so he is not really bothered about it.
“Heading was never his best skill but we need his head from time to time, not only for heading.
"We will figure it out. He said when the cut was open: ‘Don't think that this rules me out of next Sunday!'
"I don't decide that. It looks quite positive but I don't know yet 100 per cent.”