Jurgen Klopp has said that he is yet to make a final decision on whether Liverpool trio Alisson Becker, Trent Alexander-Arnold or Diogo Jota will be involved in Thursday's Europa League quarter-final first-leg tie with Atalanta BC.
The Reds were handed a major boost on Tuesday as all three players, along with Stefan Bajcetic, were pictured in team training at the AXA Training Centre following spells out through injury.
Alisson has been sidelined since February 4 with a hamstring injury and has subsequently missed each of Liverpool's last 13 games in all competitions, allowing Caoimhin Kelleher an extended run between the sticks.
Both Alexander-Arnold and Jota have been nursing knee injuries, the former sustained his problem against Burnley on February 10 before the latter was stretched off against Brentford just a week later.
As for Bajcetic, he has only made two first-team appearances this season having struggled with both groin and calf issues, but the teenage midfielder has recently made progress in his recovery.
© Reuters
Klopp in no rush to bring back injured quartet
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday ahead of Liverpool's Europa League tie with Atalanta at Anfield, Klopp insisted that all four returning players still need time to build up their fitness and rhythm.
"We will have to see [if they can feature]," Klopp told reporters. "Obviously we didn't rush it with the boys. We can but we didn't. That means they did a lot of training by themselves, especially Diogo and Trent. Worked as a group since two, three weeks. Could do really proper training.
"Looked very good yesterday to be honest. We have to see. They are now back in training and we have to see how we involve them, how we use them.
"We need them, that is clear, but we need them in the best possible shape and we want to give them a kind of rhythm. It's always a challenge to reintegrate the guys.
"But with the quality they have, it should be easier. We will use them in the next days and weeks, but what it means for tomorrow I didn't make a decision yet."
Klopp has also revealed that Alisson is yet to take part in full training, while Bajcetic is set to play for the Under-21s before he is considered for a first-team return.
© Reuters
"Stefan is a little bit different because he was out for much longer but is now training with us for longer as well," Klopp added. "I think with the long spell he had without playing football, it makes sense, we might give him a game with the Under-21s and let's see how he deals with that.
"That's not the plan with the other three guys. Alisson is on the way back as well. I think Ali so far, it's seven or eight weeks. He's not back in full training yet. Jota was 10 weeks or something? It was really long, and Trent is the longest since I've known him. They all need to get back step-by-step.
"Jota, Ali, Trent, usually think the first day they can step on the training ground, we have to bring them again and play them again. We probably had these situations in the last few years and it's never really healthy. It doesn't help a lot, they need time to get up to speed again. They are most happy that we are still in the situation we are in.
"If they are now ready to go, minutes and more, it's perfect timing because we play Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday. We will need the boys. It's not about who can play all the games.
"The young boys or whoever stepped in and played the role, they shouldn't and couldn't play all the games. We need all the players and we always need quality on the pitch because we have to pretty much win all the games.
"That's good news, I cannot say anything negative. They need time and hopefully we can give them that time."
Liverpool head into Thursday's contest after drawing 2-2 with Manchester United in the Premier League last Sunday, while they thrashed Sparta Prague 11-2 on aggregate in the last 16 of the Europa League last month.
No Data Analysis info
