Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz should return to the starting lineup when Liverpool and Rangers face off on Tuesday.
Liverpool come into the game against Rangers on the back of a 3-3 draw against Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League. And Jurgen Klopp will demand a strong reaction from his players. So far, Liverpool have picked up one win and one defeat in the group stages of the Champions League.
It remains to be seen whether they can pick up all three points against Rangers and strengthen their case to reach the knockout rounds. Meanwhile, Klopp will be without Ibrahima Konate, Andrew Robertson and Calvin Ramsay. Curtis Jones is still recovering from his knock and is expected to sit out this game as well.
Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have not been included in Liverpool’s Champions League squad and will not feature here. Meanwhile, Klopp has confirmed that club-record signing Darwin Nunez missed out on the Brighton game because of a hamstring issue, and it will be interesting to see if Liverpool are willing to hand him a start here.
Apparently, the club’s medical team had advised Klopp not to use Nunez for more than 15 to 20 minutes against Brighton. Following the additional rest, it is fair to assume that Nunez could be fit to start against Rangers.
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The Liverpool boss said, “Why he didn’t start this game [against Brighton], he came from international [duty] and he had DOMS in the hamstring. When you get this information from the medical department, it gives you some kind of minutes, how long he is allowed to play.”
Alisson Becker produced a vital performance against Brighton and is set to resume in goal against Rangers. Trent Alexander-Arnold will continue as the right-back despite a poor performance last time out. Joel Matip and Virgil van Dijk will continue as the centre-backs. Finally, Greek international defender Kostas Tsimikas will continue in place of the injured Robertson.
In the midfield, Liverpool will hope to dominate possession against a team like Rangers. So Thiago Alcantara and Harvey Elliott will start. Both players are Liverpool’s main source of creativity in the middle and can cause all sorts of problems for the Rangers defence. Brazilian midfielder Fabinho will start as well and will be expected to break up to play and win the ball back for his side.
There is a high chance Darwin Nunez will be handed a start against Rangers, with Luis Diaz and Mohamed Salah deployed as the left and right flanks, respectively. Diaz did not start against Brighton and will certainly be handed a run-out from the beginning here.
Predicted Liverpool XI: Alisson; Alexander-Arnold, Matip, van Dijk, Tsimikas; Elliott, Fabinho, Thiago; Salah, Nunez, Diaz
