Florian Wirtz taken out of Liverpool team because of back pain ahead of 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest

NOTTINGHAM, England (AP) — Germany midfielder Florian Wirtz was withdrawn from Liverpool's lineup for the 1-0 win at Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Sunday after experiencing back pain during the warm-up.

Curtis Jones replaced Wirtz in the team at the City Ground but Liverpool manager Arne Slot said “we don’t think it’s very serious.”

“He felt his back too much during the warm-up to start,” Slot said. “He wasn’t able to be 100% or even close to 100%.”

Wirtz has been in good form for Liverpool in recent weeks after a tough start to his first season at the club following an offseason move from Bayer Leverkusen.

“After being in this league for six, seven or eight months, he now understands that no matter how rich you are on the ball, that you need to be 100% at his level, so we decided not to play him," Slot added.

“We hope and expect that he will be able to be with us again next week, but you never know how things work out.”

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer