When Liverpool faced Real Madrid in last year’s Champions League final, they were competing in their 63rd match of a mammoth season as their unprecedented quadruple hopes ended up as a domestic cup double.
As a result, the starting XI Jurgen Klopp named in Paris featured many walking wounded. Starting as the holding midfielder, Fabinho played for the first time since limping off with a hamstring injury after just 30 minutes in the Reds' 2-1 away victory over Aston Villa nearly three weeks earlier.
That lay-off ruled him out of the FA Cup final against Chelsea on May 14, with Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk both joining him on the sidelines after being forced off at Wembley. The Egyptian lasted 33 minutes before giving in to a muscle injury, while a knee injury ended the Dutchman's involvement at the end of 90 minutes.
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Both would miss Liverpool’s trip to Southampton, and while Salah would emerge from the bench to score on the final day of the Premier League season against Wolves, Van Dijk was left as an unused substitute.
Meanwhile, Thiago Alcantara would limp off against Wolves before failing to complete the Reds’ open training session the day before the Champions League final in Paris. In the end, he required a pain-killing injection to ensure he was able to start.
In truth, the quartet were four of the first names you would name in a Liverpool starting XI, so it was no surprise to see them bandaged up and rushed back to start against Real Madrid for the biggest game in club football. But perhaps that contributed to the Reds’ undoing, with so many of their players not 100% fit, as they fell to a 1-0 defeat. Now all they can do is look and wonder 'what if?'
Now facing Real Madrid again nine months later, this time in the round-of-16, they have to be careful when it comes to making such decisions again.
Van Dijk is again coming into a clash with the Spanish giants off the back of a recent injury, having pulled his hamstring in mid-January against Brentford. Spending six weeks on the sidelines, he made his comeback as an unused substitute against Everton earlier this month before starting Saturday’s 2-0 win over Newcastle United. At least this time, he has not been rushed back and won’t be going in cold.
Diogo Jota has made substitute appearances in the Reds' last two matches, against Everton and Newcastle, having been sidelined since October with a calf injury that kept him out of the World Cup. Meanwhile, Roberto Firmino boasts the same game-time following his own return from the calf injury he suffered before the Premier League restart.
The pair would both have been expected to be utilised as substitutes again as Liverpool manage their playing returns carefully after such lengthy lay-offs. However, Darwin Nunez’s shoulder injury suffered against Newcastle, while also offering an unwanted reminder of Salah's own similar setback and the Reds' first unfulfilled meeting with Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League final, complicates matters.
“There is a chance, from all the possible scenarios. Apart from being absolutely nothing - that's not the case,” Klopp told reporters at his pre-match press conference. “We have to see how he can deal with the pain. When we know that, we will make a decision.”
Nunez would take part in open training on Monday, so the expectation would be, at the very least, that he can play through the pain. If not, Jota and Firmino are on hand to start in his place, though it is a concern if none of the trio are 100% fit.
Beyond that, Liverpool are currently without Luis Diaz (knee), Thiago (hip), and Ibrahima Konate (hamstring). Yet all three will inevitably be targeting the second leg at the Bernabeu on March 15 as a game they hope to be declared fit for. How the Reds fare in the first leg at Anfield will perhaps dictate the necessity behind their potential involvements.
Either way, Klopp’s side have faced Real Madrid four times since the 2018 final, with a 0-0 draw at Anfield their best result. Granted, various injuries and the absence of fans, for two very different reasons, have contributed to each negative experience, but that offers little consolation.
“If you don’t play your best, you don’t have a chance,” Klopp would warn at his pre-match press conference. “Real Madrid don't have to play their best and still have a chance. That's the difference and that's pretty special.”
To be at their best, Liverpool need every selected player to be capable of playing without shackles. That wasn’t the case in Paris, with so many injuries hanging over their heads at the end of a long season.
While such a decision is perfectly understandable going into a Champions League final, the Reds need to play the game, not the occasion, and pick a team accordingly to give them the best possible chance. They are better placed with injuries this time at least, with Van Dijk, Jota, and Firmino all returning at the right time, even if that still means they have to leave usual starters out.
Too many times they've been left unfulfilled after facing the Spanish giants, suffering that same sinking feeling as they wonder, 'What if?' Regardless of whether they get the better of Real Madrid or not, this time Liverpool just need to be able to look back on their latest meeting without any excuses.
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