Liverpool travel to Portugal Tuesday evening for the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal against Benfica. Liverpool topped Inter Milan 2-1 on aggregate in the Round of 16, while Benfica defeated Ajax. The Reds expect to have almost their entire line-up available for selection in the key fixture.
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Goalkeeper
Alisson secured another clean sheet against Watford on Saturday. He made a crucial save midway through the first half to keep the game scoreless, and Liverpool got the breakthrough less than a minute later. He rarely has to make a lot of saves, but he is making the ones that count.
Defense
Andy Robertson and Virgil van Dijk are set to keep their places in the Liverpool backline. Trent Alexander-Arnold is returning from a hamstring injury, and was on the bench for the Watford win. He should slide back into the line-up for Joe Gomez.
The one question mark could be Joel Matip. He took a knock on the head in the second half, and finished the game, but had some swelling. If Matip is unavailable, Ibrahima Konate is ready.
Midfield
Liverpool managed their midfield well on Saturday, and everyone is fresh and ready to go. The Reds midfield in big games has been Thiago, Fabinho and Jordan Henderson, and there is no reason to change that now.
Attack
Diogo Jota added another goal to his tally on Saturday. In his current form, it’s hard to keep him out of the line-up. Sadio Mane started on the bench on Saturday, but is set to return to the line-up on Tuesday.
One tough decision may be to keep Mo Salah out of the line-up in favor of Luis Diaz. Salah hasn’t been in the best of form for Liverpool, not scoring from open play in his last eight appearances. This is a huge month for Liverpool, so giving their star a match off to regroup isn’t the worst idea.
Predicted Liverpool XI (4-3-3): Alisson, Andy Robertson, Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Thiago, Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Luis Diaz, Sadio Mane and Diogo Jota.