Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has been boosted by Fabinho’s return to training but will make a late call on whether Thiago Alcantara is fit to feature in Saturday’s Champions League final against Real Madrid.
After narrowly missing out on the Premier League title, Liverpool are aiming for a clean sweep of the cups when taking on Real in a repeat of the 2018 final.
The Reds head into the match as slender favourites, although their prospects of beating the 13-time winners appeared to take a hit earlier this month after a spate of injury concerns.
Virgil van Dijk picked up a knock in the FA Cup final, but after missing the final two league games of the season the influential centre-back is “absolutely fine” to play on Saturday.
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“No issues and very excited for Saturday, of course,” he said on Wednesday.
“I think getting a little knock after the FA Cup final was maybe a sign that my body needed to have a rest. I feel absolutely fine now and looking forward to, hopefully, a special evening.”
Mohamed Salah was also injured in the FA Cup final, but he came off the bench to score in Liverpool’s final league match against Wolves on Sunday, and will be expected to start in Paris.
Meanwhile, Fabinho missed the FA Cup victory over Chelsea after injuring his hamstring in a 2-1 win over Aston Villa earlier this month, but he was pictured in full training on Wednesday.
Klopp could well start the Brazilian on Saturday given fellow midfielder Thiago remains touch and go for the final. His chances appeared slim when walking off the pitch shortly before half-time against Wolves, while he cut a dejected figure during the second half on the sidelines.
A scan earlier this week showed damage to his Achilles, but after an individual training session on Wednesday, Klopp is hopeful that Thiago could yet feature in the final.
“He did some stuff this morning, it was not planned that he was doing this session with the players,” Klopp said. “In the moment, it looks like he can be part of training tomorrow. That would be pretty helpful obviously and then we go from there.
“It’s surprisingly good. After the game [on Sunday] I was not really positive about it but we got news then that night already that it doesn’t look that bad and from there we went. Now we will see.”
One certainty is that Divock Origi will not play, having picked up a muscle injury during a training session.
The forward was given an emotional farewell at Anfield after their final Premier League game, with the striker set to move to AC Milan this summer as a free agent.
Meanwhile, Joe Gomez was another injury concern, but was back in training this week after sustaining a knock against Southampton.
Gomez is unlikely to start, however, with Klopp set to choose between Joel Matip and Ibrahima Konate to partner Van Dijk in defence.
In midfield, Fabinho could be joined by captain Jordan Henderson and Naby Keita, assuming Thiago is not fit to start, while up front Klopp must pick his most-fancied trio from a list of five candidates.
Liverpool’s front three in UCL this season
- Grp: Jota – Origi – Salah
- Grp: Mane – Jota – Salah
- Grp: Mane – Firmino – Salah
- Grp: Mane – Jota – Salah (2)
- Grp: Mane – Salah – Minamino
- Grp: Mane – Origi – Salah
- L16: Mane – Jota – Salah (3)
- L16: Mane – Jota – Salah (4)
- QF: Diaz – Mane – Salah
- QF: Diaz – Firmino – Jota
- SF: Diaz – Mane – Salah (2)
- SF: Jota – Mane – Salah (5)
Salah is a near-certainty, likewise Sadio Mane, and so the final place could be a toss-up between Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz, with Roberto Firmino likely to start as a substitute.
Diaz has been a revelation since joining in January, and while he would make for the ultimate impact sub, Klopp may prefer to start him from the off after his match-changing performance off the bench in the semi-final second leg win over Villarreal.
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The Salah-Mane-Diaz combo started the quarter-final and semi-final first legs, although Jota has been part of Klopp’s most-frequent front three in the Champions League this season, starting with Mane and Salah on five occasions.
A tough decision awaits Klopp, although whoever misses out will make for a strong bench option off the bench.
Predicted Liverpool XI (4-3-3): Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Van Dijk, Konate, Robertson, Henderson, Keita, Fabinho, Salah, Mane, Diaz.
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