Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp rules out 'real rotation' despite five-goal advantage in Porto tie
Klopp's side have a trip to Manchester United on Saturday lunchtime to contend with
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Your support makes all the difference.Jurgen Klopp will not make major changes to his Liverpool side on Tuesday night, despite taking a five-goal advantage into the Champions League knockout tie with Porto.
Liverpool are all but assured of passage into the quarter-finals of the competition after their 5-0 victory at the Estadio do Dragao three weeks ago and have a trip to Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United to contend with this Saturday.
Porto’s visit is essentially a dead rubber and would be used as an opportunity to play fringe and youth players by some managers, but Klopp ruled out what he called “real rotation” at his pre-match press conference on Monday.
“Rotating in the way you think about it, probably not sure,” he said, when asked whether he had considered making major changes. “We won the game [in Porto] in quite an impressive way: six shots on target and five were in. We respect Porto too much and the competition too much to think about real rotation.
“We had a big game on Saturday [a 2-0 home win against Newcastle United] and we had knocks and ill players – but I didn’t make a decision so far about the line-up.
“Yesterday we trained with nine players, today is the second day of recovery. We will prepare ourselves for the game and we want to win the second half of the tie.”
If any player deserves some brief respite, it is Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian scored his 32nd goal of the season in Saturday’s win over Newcastle and has sat out of just three Liverpool games all season.
Yet when asked directly whether Salah would be allowed to sit Tuesday’s game out, Klopp gave little away.
“I didn’t make a decision so far,” he said. “We are in a moment in the league where we all have to deliver and play constantly. We don’t rotate to avoid something, we use the players in the best shape.
“If it is a different line-up to Saturday it is only because we want to win. Maybe one, two, three changes but only to win the game.”
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