Liverpool could be handed a sizeable boost for their Champions League clash against Spartak Moscow on Tuesday evening (26 September), with influential winger Quincy Promes a key doubt for the hosts due to injury.

The 23-cap Netherlands international scored both goals for Spartak in a 2-0 Russian Cup fifth-round victory over Kuban Krasnodar last Wednesday, but sustained a calf problem later in the same game.

He was ruled out of the subsequent 2-2 draw with Anzhi Makhachkala at the weekend and manager Massimo Carrera appears pessimistic that he will be in a position to return for the Group E meeting with Liverpool at the Otkrytiye Arena.

Indeed, it seems as if Brazilian forward Pedro Rocha, who was similarly sidelined against Anzhi after also picking up a knock in the win over Krasnodar, is more likely to make his comeback against Jurgen Klopp's side.

"It's still uncertain if Quincy Promes will play tomorrow," Carrera told reporters at his pre-match press conference, as relayed by Goal.com. "I'll have to discuss it with our doctors tonight. I can only say that Pedro Rocha has more chance to feature."

Quincy Promes
Netherlands winger Quincy Promes is one of Spartak Moscow's most influential players

Promes's absence for a game of such magnitude would come as quite a blow to Spartak, with the former FC Twente attacker having scored 52 goals and registering 26 assists in 103 total appearances since arriving in the Russian capital back in 2014.

The 25-year-old is a close friend of Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum and has previously been mentioned in connection with a potential move to Anfield. However, a frustrated Klopp did not dwell on that subject for too long during a shambolic 11-minute press conference held on Monday evening that he dubbed a waste of time.

"He's a good player, a very good player but there's nothing else to say," he said, per the Liverpool Echo. "There are a lot of good players that we have already. We already have a Dutch player who knows him really well so obviously they are good friends but this is not the place to talk about this. He's a good player but a Spartak player."

On his potential absence, Klopp added: "He didn't play in the last game or two, I'm not sure. He's a very good player. He has speed, he's good on one v one situations and all that stuff, so of course that's a weakness. It's the same for each team, we played the last three games without Sadio Mane, also a very good player.

"He's not the only good player in the Spartak team but he's a very good one. But it's how I said it always affects performances but we will not win because one player is out and Spartak won't win because one player is in on our side. We have to play together and that's what we try. I don't know if Quincy can play or not but the analysis we did was already without him as he didn't play in the last game."

Captain Denis Glushakov is also set to be missing for Spartak, while Georgi Tigiev, Jano Ananidze, Roman Zobnin, Ze Luis and Denis Davydov have been dealing with injuries. The club won their first domestic title for 16 years last term, although have won just three of their first 11 matches in 2017-18 and currently sit ninth. They were held to a 1-1 draw by Maribor in their opening Champions League group game, while 10-man Liverpool drew 2-2 at home to Sevilla.