Liverpool Coach Jurgen Klopp has make a change to his Champions league squad with Takumi Minamino replacing defender Sepp van den Berg, MySportDab reports.
Minamino signed for the Reds in the January transfer window from Red Bull Salzburg for £7.25million and is now set to play in the knockout stages match against Atletico Madrid after being added to the new 25-man ‘A’ list.
The Merseyside club will face Atletico in the competition’s last 16 round on February 18 at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Spain and will play them again in the 2nd Leg on March 11 at Anfield.
Minamino played against Liverpool in the Champions League group stage but UEFA’s new rules state a player who played during the first round of the final stage can still play for another club during the other stages of the tournament.
Coach Jurgen Klopp is confident that the Japan winger will cope just fine and expects good things from him in the near future.
The German manager said: “We’re not reshaping, but Taki is a player who can help us immediately in the short term and also the long term, from the age perspective.
“He’s already very good. Everyone could see when we faced Salzburg.
“But still his potential is there to become even better.
“This is not a competition, it’s just trying to have different options in different places and the door is open that Taki can come in the team.”
MySportDab understands Minamino started his career in 2012 at Cerezo Osaka and moved to Salzburg three years later where he grew even better and joined the first team squad.
Liverpool Champions League Squad:
Goalkeepers: Alisson Becker, Andy Lonergan, Adrian Caoimhin Kelleher+
Defenders: Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Dejan Lovren, Andy Robertson, Adam Lewis+, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joel Matip, Yasser Larouci, Neco Williams.
Midfielders: Fabinho, Wijnaldum, James Milner, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana, Curtis Jones+, Xherdan Shaqiri, Harvey Elliott
Forwards: Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Divock Origi, Takumi Minamino.
