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Liverpool will not be allowed to recall Marko Grujic from his loan spell at Cardiff City to ease Jurgen Klopp’s midfield heartache.

The 21-year-old Serbian joined the Championship promotion chasers in January and has since clocked up 12 appearances for the Bluebirds.

Grujic left in search of regular game time after seeing his opportunities limited with the Reds in the first half of the season.

With Klopp’s midfield options now heavily depleted, Grujic would have come into contention both for Saturday’s Premier League clash with Everton and Tuesday’s crunch Champions League quarter-final second leg with Manchester City.

However, under the rules, Liverpool don’t have the option of bringing Grujic back and he will stay with Cardiff until the end of the season.

Klopp had hoped that Emre Can would return to fitness this week after a back problem but he’s now expected to be sidelined for another few weeks.

Adam Lallana is also injured, while captain Jordan Henderson is banned for the second leg against City.

It means that Gini Wijnaldum, James Milner and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are the only senior midfielders available to face City.

Klopp must decide whether to risk two of them alongside Henderson in the derby or turn to Academy youngsters like Herbie Kane, Rafa Camacho or Curtis Jones.