MatchNapoli v Liverpool: Team news

The Reds are in Naples for their opening match of Group A and have Thiago to call on again after the midfielder returned to full training in recent days.

On the No.6’s readiness to feature versus the Serie A outfit, Klopp said: “He is ready. For how long, we will see.”

Jordan Henderson is ruled out until after this month’s international break, however, while Fabio Carvalho and Curtis Jones did not travel following injury complaints picked up last week.

Caoimhin Kelleher, Ibrahima Konate, Calvin Ramsay, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also remain unavailable as they continue to recover from fitness issues.

Less than week after completing a loan move from Juventus, Arthur Melo is back in Italy with Liverpool as they embark on another European Cup campaign.

At his pre-match press conference, the manager discussed the Brazilian’s integration into the team, explaining: “Arthur needs now just football – and training, especially, that’s how it is. He wasn’t in team training for a while at Juve, so he needs proper team training – and that’s what we are doing with him.

“Can he play minutes? Yes. Should he play a full game? No, because he needs to get used to the intensity in each competition.

“He is doing well, he is really giving his absolute all in training, we have to be careful with him as well and then we will see whether we can use him.”

Victor Osimhen, who scored 18 goals for Napoli last season, has been an injury doubt ahead of Liverpool’s visit due to a muscle issue.

But Luciano Spalletti revealed the forward will be given every chance to prove his fitness ahead of the Group A opener at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.

“Yesterday he experienced some pain, so he didn’t train yesterday and trained separately today,” said Spalletti at Tuesday’s pre-match press conference.

“Tomorrow he will train with the group provided he feels better than today. Tomorrow, if he feels up for it, he will try to shoot, try to do a bit more with the ball and if he has a positive feeling about that, like this morning, he will be available for selection.”

Fellow attacker Hirving Lozano is definitely at the disposal of the side currently sitting second in Serie A, however, having trained fully ahead of the tie.

On meeting the Reds, Spalletti added: “We are back in the Champions League after a while and we face one of the most iconic teams in the competition.

“But we want to produce a performance up to standard, we won’t want to go to the pitch to get praise and compliments, we want to try to win the game and this is the signal we’ll try to send out.

“Like after scoring the second goal against Lazio [in a 2-1 away win last Saturday], I made two attacking subs trying to score the third goal to protect the lead.

“When you play against Liverpool, you need to be up to the standard, they play a brand of total football.”

Last match

Lazio 1-2 Napoli (September 3): Meret, Di Lorenzo, Rrahmani, Kim, Rui, Zambo Anguissa, Lobotka, Lozano, Zielinski, Kvaratskhelia, Osimhen.

Everton 0-0 Liverpool (September 3): Alisson, Alexander-Arnold, Gomez, Van Dijk, Tsimikas, Fabinho, Elliott, Carvalho, Diaz, Salah, Nunez.