Liverpool secured their place in the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday night, but Jurgen Klopp had a concerning injury knock to deal with.
The Reds had done the damage in the first leg against Porto, taking a 5-0 lead into the second meeting at Anfield.
The return fixture ended goalless, but with Liverpool safely through to the next stage, the focus would undoubtedly have been on coming through unscathed with no fresh injury concerns ahead of facing Manchester United on Saturday.
With the two bitter rivals still battling for second place in the Premier League table, both managers will be desperate for as strong a squad to select from as possible.
Fortunately for Klopp, he doesn’t envisage captain Jordan Henderson missing out at Old Trafford as he played down fears over a knock that the midfielder picked up near the end of the game.
“[Jordan] Henderson got a dead leg in the last minute but that should be all good,” he said, as quoted by The Express. “Everybody else is OK. No issues. We are fine.”
Klopp and his players know that a win against Utd will move them back up to second at their expense while it could temporarily move them 10 points above fifth-placed Chelsea in the battle for a top-four finish to secure a seat at Europe’s top table next season.
In turn, having Henderson available and fit to lead by example in the heart of the midfield is going to be key in a potentially physical battle, and based on the comments above from Klopp, he doesn’t have any new concerns over his players and will be eagerly anticipating the clash.
Further, he showed sensible management against Porto, opting to rest key players such as Mohamed Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Virgil van Dijk with Saturday’s game perhaps in mind.