Liverpool should have a near-full squad to choose from for the crunch clash against Napoli on Tuesday night, with Sadio Mane in contention to start.
The Reds will, of course, be without Joe Gomez for the Champions League tie, who has suffered a leg fracture and is out until the new year.
But aside from the defender’s absence, there will be a strong squad to choose from for Klopp with three players nearing full fitness after recent woes.
Mane made his return as a second-half substitute against Bournemouth, coming on to play on the right side for the Reds as they went top of the Premier League table.
He had previously missed the win at Burnley after suffering a foot injury against Everton, but Klopp told LiverpoolFC.com that the No. 10 had suffered no adverse reaction to his weekend cameo.
“Sadio can deal with the pain obviously – it looked like that in Bournemouth, so that’s cool. It’s good enough that we can consider him at least.
“We have two sessions still to come – we’ll train tomorrow morning as well. That’s very important. We have the meeting to do. In the squad there is nothing really serious after the game, that’s good.”
Elsewhere, Adam Lallana should be fine to be part of the squad, despite suffering a bad cut to the head at the weekend.
The midfielder came on at the same time as Mane at Dean Court, but a clash of heads saw him spend part of the latter stages of the game on the sidelines.
He has, however, been training since the match, leaving Klopp assured he’s ready to play a part if needed.
While Lallana is likely to be sub at best, Klopp could be able to call upon a necessary defensive reinforcement in the shape of Dejan Lovren.
Joel Matip has impressed in the past couple of games alongside Virgil van Dijk, so is likely to start at centre-back against Napoli, but with Gomez now sidelined the Reds were looking worryingly thin on the ground at the back.
Given the track record of both Matip and Lovren over the past season or two in terms of their fitness, it’s a real boost to have the Croatian available again—though it’s still touch-and-go whether he makes Tuesday’s game.
“We will see how Dejan is doing,” Klopp continued.
“Yesterday he was out on the pitch and looked quite well. Can he be part of training today or not? We will see that. Squad-wise, [there is] no bad news at least.”
Klopp has often called upon a late defensive sub this season to help shore up the defence, and given what’s at stake at Anfield, it’s feasible we could again see the boss turn to a centre-back off the bench to help close out a vital victory.
Liverpool need either a 1-0 win or a two-goal winning margin to seal passage to the last 16.
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