Champions LeagueLiverpool v Paris Saint-Germain: Team news

Liverpool v Paris Saint-Germain: Team news

Champions LeagueLiverpool v Paris Saint-Germain: Team news

Cody Gakpo is fit and available for selection once again ahead of Liverpool’s hosting of Paris Saint-Germain in the last 16 of the Champions League on Tuesday night.

The No.18 was absent from last week’s 1-0 victory for the Reds at Parc des Princes due to injury, despite travelling to France.

The issue then also forced him to miss Saturday’s 3-1 win over Southampton in the Premier League at Anfield.

But Gakpo returned to training under the watch of head coach Arne Slot at the AXA Training Centre on Monday afternoon and is now ready to take to the pitch once again.

Arne Slot’s pre-PSG press conference: ‘We need our best performance of the season’

Slot told his pre-match press conference: “Yeah, he [Gakpo] will be in the squad. He trained today for the first time.”

Conor Bradley, Joe Gomez and Tyler Morton, however, remain sidelined and out of the fixture as they deal with their respective muscle, hamstring and shoulder injuries.

Meanwhile, there are five Liverpool players who would miss the quarter-final first leg if they receive a yellow card in this match and the Reds advance. They are Harvey Elliott, Ibrahima Konate, Alexis Mac Allister, Andy Robertson and Virgil van Dijk.

In opposition, PSG announced a 22-man travelling party to Merseyside on Monday morning.

That group is composed of exactly the same players that made up Luis Enrique’s matchday squad when the Reds won the first leg in Paris last week.

Enrique made eight changes to his starting line-up for Saturday’s 4-1 Ligue 1 win away at Rennes, with Willian Pacho, Joao Neves and Bradley Barcola the three who continued from the XI that hosted Liverpool.

The PSG boss said during his media preview: “I don’t think that Arne Slot has much doubt about our starting XI for tomorrow. I have my ideas about their starting XI as well.

“You can say whatever you want about that, but I don’t pay too much attention to what is going on elsewhere very often. I’m not going to give away who is going to play tomorrow or how we’re going to play tomorrow.

“But one thing that is sure is that over the course of the two games we’ll be seeing two of the best teams in Europe playing and two teams that are certainly contenders to win the Champions League final.”

Last match

Liverpool 3-1 Southampton (March 8): Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Konate, Van Dijk, Tsimikas, Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Jones, Salah, Diaz, Nunez.

Rennes 1-4 PSG (March 8): Safonov, Zaire-Emery, Beraldo, Pacho, Hernandez, Neves, Doue, Mayulu, Lee, Barcola, Ramos.