News which will surely shake up Liverpool fans is that Virgil van Dijk and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain have sat out of training ahead of Barcelona’s Champions League visit this week.
The suggestion that either may be unavailable for the semi-final second leg is particularly painful as Jurgen Klopp has confirmed Mo Salah and Bobby Firmino are unavailable for selection.
MORE: How Liverpool could line up against Barcelona without Salah and Firmino
The news was first shared by Mirror journalist David Maddock on Twitter, but thankfully he later confirmed that there isn’t any particular reason the star duo weren’t training with the rest of the senior squad.
See his Tweet below:
Club spokesperson says there is no specific reason van Dijk and Oxlade-Chamberlain are not training – both are doing individual, bespoke sessions so have missed this open session for the cameras. Both can still be available tomorrow night though #LFC pic.twitter.com/IKviUwcBwk
— David Maddock (@MaddockMirror) May 6, 2019
It’s perfectly reasonable that both lads are fit and are just following a specific training schedule away from the rest of the senior squad; Ox has spent a very long time out and likely needs special treatment.
Our number four has played 46 games in all competitions for Liverpool this season and may simply have been given a rest ahead of the biggest test of our current campaign.
I wouldn’t worry too much, Reds, Klopp didn’t mention anything in the pre-match press conference about van Dijk and Oxlade-Chamberlain – you’d expect him to mention something, surely?