Liverpool trained ahead of taking on Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, with Joe Gomez returning after several weeks on the sidelines with a muscle problem
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola.
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola.(Image: Jan Kruger/Getty Images)
Liverpool defender Joe Gomez was present in the open training session that the Reds undertook ahead of taking on Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, but Cody Gakpo was absent.
Gomez, Andoni Iraola said last week, was closing in on a return to action. The 28-year-old center-back picked up a muscle injury during pre-season that kept him sidelined for around a month.
Gakpo, meanwhile, who has started the season in excellent form, was missing as a precaution with a minor issue, The Times reports. Liverpool plays its first Champions League game of the campaign tomorrow at Anfield in the third edition of the new-look format.
Last week, Iraola revealed that Gomez was closing in on a return, though he won't be rushed back.
The long-serving star can play both center-back and right-back, though, so his comeback will be a welcome one.
"The closest one is Joe," Iraola said ahead of the trip to Ipswich, when summer signing Ronald Araujo impressed at full-back, where he was selected ahead of Jeremie Frimpong.
"Joe will probably start training with us next week and it has gone normally, the recovery, from a muscle injury, more or less we were expecting the time on this. I hope we can have him before the break, let’s say.
"I think the next one probably should be Giovanni Leoni. I think the plan is also to start training during the break, with the group.
"I think even Fede (Chiesa) should be around those dates and probably Conor (Bradley), and especially Hugo (Ekitike), will go later, yes."
Wednesday will be the first time that Iraola has managed in the Champions League and he is looking forward to the occasion.
Content Image
Content Image
" I think obviously it's a special night for me," Iraola said in a press conference earlier. "Everyone talks [about] the Champions League nights at Anfield and also the first game is against a strong opposition, it's Atletico Madrid.
"Diego Simeone is doing an incredible job as a manager. To be all the years that he has been achieving every season the goals of the club I think is remarkable and definitely it's a big challenge for us.
"I think I played against him as a player, he was still a player, and I played against his teams when he was a coach and I also coached against him. So, we had a lot of precedent before.
"Definitely he has much more experience than me in these kinds of games but I hope tomorrow we can give him a good game, yes."