Liverpool fans were treated to some good news this afternoon as the Reds step up preparations for their Champions League round-of-16 second leg against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night.
Arne Slot’s side take a 1-0 lead back to Anfield for tomorrow’s decisive clash, a result made all the more impressive not just by its smash-and-grab nature but also because it was achieved without one of our most important players.
Cody Gakpo missed that game and Saturday’s win over Southampton with a recurrence of an ankle injury which also sidelined him for a couple of matches last month, but it’s now looking good for the Dutchman’s chances of featuring against PSG this week.
Gakpo involved in Liverpool training today
Footage of this afternoon’s training session in Kirkby was livestreamed on Liverpool FC’s YouTube channel, and it shows the 25-year-old fully kitted out and involved with the main squad ahead of tomorrow night’s match.
Arne Slot is sure to be asked for an update on his compatriot at this evening’s press conference, but the sight of our number 18 at the AXA Training Centre certainly suggests that he could be involved in the second leg.
The Reds boss said ahead of the Southampton game that it’d be a ‘close call‘ as to whether or not Gakpo would feature on Saturday, and although that fixture came too soon for him, we could hopefully see the £35.4m man on the pitch at some point against PSG.
Gakpo’s return tomorrow would be a big boost for Liverpool
The ex-PSV Eindhoven attacker is Liverpool’s second-highest scorer so far this season with 16 goals, including three in the Champions League, so his prospective return against Luis Enrique’s side would undoubtedly be a significant boost for the Merseysiders.
If the Dutchman is fit enough to start tomorrow, it’d enable Slot to give Luis Diaz a breather after the Colombian played the full 90 minutes at the weekend, in addition to three-quarters of the first leg at the Parc des Princes last Wednesday.
Here’s hoping that Cody can play some part against PSG on Tuesday and then be primed for next weekend’s Carabao Cup final after featuring in the Wembley triumph over Chelsea last year.
Undoubtedly good news!! However, I will prefer to start with Díaz, Núñez and Salah. They are at high level of efectiveness and mental strenght, while Gakpo needs to gain form again. Thus, in a tense/tough game like this one, it doesn’t seem the most appropriate for him to do so from the very beginning.
Liverpool is going to win against Paris saint German 2/1
Liverpool should just be desicive and start Chiesa instead,who PSG will 90% not predict as they are currently busy thinking how to stop Luis Diaz or Cody gakpo, Liverpool would better be off starting Chiesa,who will most likely want to prove himself in the match and will make heavy of work of the defence and put in more work to prove to Arne slot that he can be used as a starting lineup player.second half we could shift things up by bringing Cody Gakpo and I’m hoping Darwin starts ahead of Jota.this lineup is effective considering that PSG are a team that sprints forward and just splashes attacks at the opponent’s,we could use this advantage in our counter considering that all three forwards Chiesa,Nunez and Salah are good sprinters and can change the momentum in the attack.