There’s an argument to be made that Liverpool’s substitutes’ bench for tonight’s Europa League clash against Atalanta is as interesting, perhaps even more so, than the starting XI.
Mo Salah, Luis Diaz, Andy Robertson and Dominik Szoboszlai are among the standout players who drop out of the line-up for this game, and three other names among the subs will also catch the eye.
Trent Alexander-Arnold, Diogo Jota and Stefan Bajcetic all return to the matchday squad tonight after lengthy injury absences, with the former two having not played since mid-February and the latter sidelined since September 2023.
Team news is in for tonight's #UEL clash with Atalanta 👊
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Jurgen Klopp will ideally want to ease that trio back into the team rather than throwing them in at the deep end straight away, but their mere presence among the substitutes will have Liverpool fans rejoicing.
The dream scenario for the manager is that the Reds will be in a strong enough position by 70-75 minutes to be able to bring on the likes of Trent, Jota and Bajcetic to get some game-time into their legs ahead of forthcoming fixtures.
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Atalanta will be striving to ensure that isn’t the case, but even if this fixture comes a small bit too soon to give that trio a few minutes of action, their inclusion in the matchday squad illustrates that they’re fit enough to potentially be involved tonight.
With so many crucial games coming up in such a short timespan for Liverpool, Klopp will be mightily relieved to finally have a near fully-fit squad at his disposal after an injury crisis a few weeks ago which threatened to cripple our season but thankfully hasn’t.