Liverpool handed major new injury boost for blockbuster PSG decider

Evening Standard

·10 mars 2025

Liverpool handed major new injury boost for blockbuster PSG decider

Arne Slot confirms good news for Reds as they look to defend 1-0 lead in Champions League last-16 second-leg showdown

Liverpool will have Cody Gakpo back fit for Tuesday night’s massive Champions League last-16 second-leg decider against Paris Saint-Germain, manager Arne Slot has confirmed.

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The Dutch forward missed last week’s hugely fortuitous smash-and-grab 1-0 win over PSG in France with the recurrence of an ankle problem that had previously seen him sidelined for back-to-back Premier League matches, while he was also absent again for Saturday’s victory against Southampton at Anfield.

However, Gakpo was spotted back in training during an open session at Kirkby on Monday and Slot has now revealed that his compatriot is fit enough to be involved as wounded PSG head to Merseyside hunting swift revenge in another blockbuster clash on Tuesday.

“Yeah, he [Gakpo] will be in the squad,” the Reds boss said at his pre-match press conference on Monday evening. “Today he was training for the first time.”

It remains to be seen if Gakpo is immediately ready to resume a starting role in Liverpool’s attack against PSG, having not started a game now for almost a month since first suffering his injury at Everton, with Diogo Jota having led the line in the first leg supported by Mohamed Salah, Luis Diaz and Dominik Szoboszlai.

Salah and Diaz flanked Darwin Nunez for the 3-1 comeback win over bottom club Southampton in the top-flight at the weekend, with Nunez notching the equaliser shortly after half-time and later fouled for the first of two Salah penalties.

Nunez also provided the assist off the bench for fellow substitute Harvey Elliott’s dramatic winning goal in Paris last week that came after a sublime goalkeeping performance from Alisson Becker had somehow kept the score at 0-0 despite dominant PSG registering 27 shots across the course of an otherwise heavily one-sided 90 minutes.

Liverpool will definitely remain without Conor Bradley and Joe Gomez against PSG as the defensive duo continue to recover from respective hamstring injuries, while young midfielder Tyler Morton remains out after a shoulder operation and winger Ben Doak has been back at the club rehabbing after surgery on a thigh injury suffered while out on loan in the Championship at Middlesbrough.

Andy Robertson, Alexis Mac Allister and Jota will all expect to come back into the team on Tuesday after a spot of minor rotation saw each come off the bench against Southampton in a match that Slot described as the first of three “cup finals” for Liverpool this week, with Kostas Tsimikas, Curtis Jones and Nunez likely making way.

After the conclusion of their heavyweight tie with PSG, the runaway Premier League leaders face Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final at Wembley on Sunday, with another Merseyside derby at home against Everton then looming straight after the March international break.