Jurgen Klopp watched a host of his senior players play for their country this summer but an allotted three-week break makes for an increased chance to feature in the league opener.
Liverpool gets the new season underway at Norwich on August 14, 33 days after a 34-man group returned for pre-season in Austria.
That initial contingent is, of course, without notable senior figures due to their involvement at major international tournaments – of which four made it all the way to a final.
And they will each endure a shortened pre-season as a result, which had raised question marks over their ability to feature at Carrow Road.
But a three-beak break following their respective tournament exit, as confirmed by Klopp, leaves the door open to prove their fitness as each player will have at least two weeks to prepare.
Alisson, Fabinho, Roberto Firmino and Jordan Henderson will be on the shortest time crunch after both finishing with silver medals, with a return expected on August 2.
The three-week break is all Klopp and co. could squeeze out for the 10 internationals but they should not lose significant conditioning in that time to delay the start to their season.
“The guys from the Euros and the guys from the Copa have around about three weeks,” Klopp told LiverpoolFC.com. “They have three weeks, that’s what we can give them and that’s what we will.
“Then they have not a long pre-season but they didn’t have a long break, so that’s absolutely OK. So they get as long as we could; we squeezed everything out again for them that they can really have the proper rest they need.
“But, in the end, it’s about getting a rest, using the rest and coming back and starting again with all you can because the next season is around the corner and, to be honest, the last season there’s not a lot of good things to say.
“But we went through a really tough, tough period and we got through it so that made us, obviously, 100 percent stronger.”
While the time constraint is not ideal for Liverpool it should boost the chances of fielding a lineup close to the strongest XI on opening day.
Alisson would be expected to transition straight back in and after just 126 minutes, the least of any Red in tournament action, Thiago would also be best positioned for a midfield berth.
Andy Robertson could be afforded a four-week break following his early exit with Scotland and that would still allow for a pre-season beyond three weeks and boost his starting chances.
Fabinho accumulated 191 minutes with Brazil and is in a similar boat to those aforementioned, but caution could come into play for Diogo Jota and Firmino after a busy international period that followed on from the taxing 2020/21 campaign.
Klopp does have options at his disposal and Henderson could be another in midfield after building his fitness base with England after a three-month injury absence.
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