Star forward Diogo Jota of Portugal, and the Premier League's Liverpool will miss the Qatar FIFA World Cup because of a calf injury, Liverpool's manager Jurgen Klopp said on Tuesday.

During Liverpool's 1-0 home win over Manchester City in the Premier League game at Anfield on October 16, Jota was taken off the field on a stretcher in the last minutes of the stoppage time.

"Really not good news, yes he will miss the World Cup," Klopp said. "Pretty serious injury in the calf muscle and now the process starts. That's it pretty much. All the rest will now follow in the next few days. Very sad news for the boy, for us as well and for Portugal... I don't want to put a time on it [his return]. It will be a long time."

Jota, 25, has scored 34 goals and 14 assists in 94 appearances for Liverpool since he was landed by the club from Wolverhampton Wanderers for 44.7 million euros (about $43.7 million) in September 2020. He has contributed 10 goals in 28 games for the Portuguese national team in different competitions.

"After such a good night at Anfield mine ended in the worst way," he wrote in a statement. "In the last minute one of my dreams collapsed. I will be one more supporting from the outside, club and country, and fighting to be back as soon as possible. You'll Never Walk Alone (football anthem of Liverpool)."

Jota is not the only Premier League star player who will have to miss the coming World Cup. Chelsea's French midfielder N'Golo Kante encountered the misfortune as he has to rest for four months to recover from a hamstring surgery. His club teammate, English right-back Reece James has been ruled out of the World Cup too as he will be sidelined for eight weeks due to a knee injury.

This year's World Cup is scheduled between November 20 and December 18 in Qatar.