Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he is hoping for Mo Salah's Egypt to get eliminated from the Africa Cup of Nations at the end of the group stage.
Salah scored two goals and provided an assist to help Liverpool beat Newcastle United 4-2 at Anfield on Monday.
That was Salah's final club game before joining up with his international teammates ahead of AFCON, which will start on January 13.
Egypt will compete in Group B along with Ghana, Cape Verde and Mozambique.
If Egypt fail to progress to the knockout phase then Salah may miss just three matches - against Arsenal, Fulham and Bournemouth.
However, it is highly unlikely that Egypt will fall at the first hurdle, with the top two teams from each group going through, as well as four of the six third-placed teams.
If Egypt progress as far as the semi-finals then Salah will not be able to return to his club until February 12 at the earliest and he could miss as many as eight Liverpool games.
Liverpool will also be without midfielder Wataru Endo in the coming weeks.
Endo has been selected to represent Japan at the Asian Cup.
At a press conference on Friday, Liverpool manager Klopp was asked what he had said to Salah and Endo before they left on international duty.
Klopp told reporters: "I said 'if I wish you good luck it would be a lie.' But I do obviously.
"From a personal point of view, I would be overly happy if they go out after the group stage but it's probably not possible.
"It's fine, and then they can go and win it as well.
"So, 'good luck, see you and come back healthy'. That's pretty much the words.
"Now we have to deal with it and we'll deal with it."
Egypt have won the Africa Cup of Nations seven times but not since 2010.
Salah made his international debut in 2011.
More must-reads: