Jurgen Klopp will be hoping that one pundit’s prediction about two Liverpool players comes true.
The Reds return to action on Saturday against top-of-the-table Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, with both teams concerned about the fitness of certain players.
Virgil van Dijk and Cody Gakpo are currently fighting fit, and after helping the Netherlands secure Euro 2024 qualification last weekend, some local commentators believe they may not be called upon for tonight’s dead rubber against Gibraltar.
“Now that the Dutch team has qualified for the European Championship, all kinds of club coaches are going to call to spare the big guns,” Maarten Wijffeels said on the AD Football Podcast.Jurgen Klopp does not want Cody Gakpo or Virgil van Dijk to be injured in the match against Gibraltar. That happened to Daley Blind once in 2021. That is the dread. So I’m expecting a lot of changes on Tuesday. Perhaps 11 new players.”
Our message to Netherlands boss Ronald Koeman is simple – listen to Wijffeels and give other players a chance, now that qualification is secured.
Gibraltar are reeling from a harrowing 14-0 defeat to France just three days ago, so the Dutch could hardly have hand-picked more accommodating opponents to face in their final Euro 2024 qualifier.
They should be able to make a host of changes and still have a starting XI which is more than capable of rounding off the campaign with another victory.
It doesn’t take the deductive powers of Sherlock Holmes to determine that Liverpool’s clash at Man City on Saturday has more riding on it than an inconsequential game for Netherlands tonight, so we’re imploring Koeman to give Van Dijk and Gakpo the night off.
Klopp will have one more restless night with plenty of his squad on international duty. As many as 12 Reds players could be involved for their countries over the next 24 hours – fingers crossed they’ll all return to Merseyside fully fit and raring to go for next weekend’s titanic trip to the Etihad.
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