Salah returns to Liverpool squad ahead of Genk clash
Football
By
Mirror
| Oct 23, 2019
Liverpool have confirmed their 19-man squad to head to Genk for their third Champions League game of the campaign on Wednesday night.
Mohamed Salah returns to the squad after injury forced him to miss Sunday's 1-1 draw with Manchester United .
But Jurgen Klopp will need to make at least two changes to his side with Joel Matip and Trent Alexander-Arnold both missing from the travelling party which left John Lennon Airport on Tuesday afternoon.
Matip, who recently signed a new contract, is suffering with a sore knee whilst Alexander-Arnold has a virus.
"Trent is ill and Joel is not ready," Klopp explained to Liverpool's website.
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“It is just a little thing which usually settles in the two weeks [Matip] had; it did, but then it came up after the United game and so now we just have to make sure this time it settles finally, that’s all. It is not a massive injury, it’s just a bit annoying for him and he cannot do it [face Genk].
Adam Lallana, who came off the bench to score a late equaliser at the weekend, is included in the squad, which features no major surprises minus the two absent players.
Young full-back Neco Williams does not make the squad having been drafted into senior training in Alexander-Arnold's absence.
Matip's injury opens the door for Dejan Lovren or Joe Gomez to stake a claim to partner Virgil van Dijk moving forwards.
Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are amongst those also pushing to start after impressive cameo appearances at Old Trafford.
Xherdan Shaqiri is still ruled out for the Reds with a calf injury.
After losing to Napoli in the opening game of their Champions League defence, the Reds got back on track with a 4-3 win in a thriller against RB Leipzig at Anfield last time out.
They now face back-to-back encounters with Genk, starting with Wednesday's game in Belgium before the return fixture on Merseyside on November 5.
Genk striker Ally Mbwana Samatta, a boyhood Manchester United fan, labelled the game a "dream match".
"When I was a kid I used to support a Manchester United but we are not talking about Manchester United right now, we are talking about Liverpool ," he admitted.
"We believe Liverpool are a strong team now in the Premier League and European competition and we expect a tough game. We will try to break them down."We are playing in front of our own supporters so we want to be happy at the end of the game. We will do our best.
"I think it is a dream game. When you play football you dream about these kind of games. As a kid you watched these kind of games but now you are on the pitch playing the game.
Liverpool squad: Alisson, Fabinho, Van Dijk, Wijnaldum, Lovren, Milner, Keita, Firmino, Mane, Salah, Gomez, Adrian, Henderson, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lallana, Brewster, Robertson, Origi, Kelleher.