Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says his side will not be able to play their Carabao Cup quarter-final if the fixture cannot be rearranged to avoid a clash with the Fifa Club World Cup.
The European champions beat Arsenal in a penalty shootout after a 10-goal fourth-round tie on Wednesday.
The quarter-finals are due to be played the week commencing 16 December.
Liverpool make a 7,000-mile round trip to Qatar to play in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup on 18 December.
The tournament is held every December and features seven teams from six confederations.
“If they don’t find a place for us, an appropriate place, not 3am on Christmas Day, then we don’t play it,” said Klopp.
“You have to think about these things. If you have a fixture list where one team cannot be part of all the games, then you have to think about it. Hopefully it starts at one point, hopefully it starts now.
“We will not be the victim of this problem, we played [on Wednesday] and we wanted to win. If they don’t find a proper date for us then we cannot play the next round and whoever is our opponent will go through – or Arsenal will play it. I cannot change that.”
Liverpool are already scheduled to play seven games in December, plus the Carabao Cup quarter-final and either a third-fourth play-off or the final of the Club World Cup on 21 December.
With no midweek slots available in 2019 other than during international breaks, the next feasible opportunity to play midweek – when they will not be competing in the Premier League – will be between fixtures on 11 January and 19 January.
Liverpool were due to play West Ham on 20 December in the Premier League and that game is yet to be rearranged.
