Cody Gakpo has travelled with Liverpool to Paris (Image: GETTY)
have confirmed the 24-man squad that has travelled to Paris for the first leg of their last 16 tie against . Cody Gakpo is part of the group that has flown to the French capital from John Lennon Airport ahead of tomorrow (Wednesday) night’s match at the Parc de Princes, despite missing training earlier today (Tuesday).
His condition is not yet known but the fact the Dutch attacker is with the squad suggests he is not carrying a serious injury and could play a part, at the very least from the substitutes’ bench. Otherwise, ‘s squad is as expected with only three absentees – the expected trio of Joe Gomez, Conor Bradley and Tyler Morton are all missing due to injury. Gakpo sat out of the Premier League win over Wolves and draw at Aston Villa with an ankle problem but has come off the bench in the Reds’ two most recent matches – top-flight victories over and .
Manager will provide a full update on the 16-goal forward in his pre-match press conference tonight. That the forward has travelled is a fillip, though, given he is ‘s second highest scorer this season. The Reds topped the new league phase format with just seven wins from eight games but their opponents will provide a very stern test of the Premier League champions-elect across the English Channel.
PSG sit top of Ligue 1 and 13 points clear of second-placed Marseille. While they finished 15th of the 36 teams in the Champions League league phase, they took on French rivals Brest in the play-off round and hammered them 10-0 across the two legs.
Former Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele has scored 26 goals for Luis Enrique’s men this term and is their top scorer. He is far from their sole attacking threat, however, after bolstering their squad by signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia from Napoli in the January transfer window.
The Georgian has two goals and four assists in 10 PSG outings while team-mates Bradley Barcola (17 goals, 11 assists in 39 games), Desire Doue (seven goals, 10 assists in 35 games) and Goncalo Ramos (12 goals, five assists in 24 games) are all capable match-winners too.
Arne Slot will be wary of the many attacking threats of PSG (Image: GETTY)
captain Virgil van Dijk said this week: “It will be a very good game, I expect over there, against a team in form. I think they played very well in their last Champions League game against Brest.
“It will be difficult but these are the games you want to compete in and I am really looking forward to it. Of course, it feels like [the Champions League] goes up a level now. We are in the knockout stages and there is no time for errors or bad games.
“There are two games to get through and we want to be so good that we deserve to go through. But you have to fight for it, you have to do everything in your power to win the game. That is what we are going to try to do, but we are definitely aware of them.
“We will be aware of them in Paris and then obviously back here [to Anfield]. These are the nights that you want to perform in and you want to show the whole world.”
Liverpool’s 24-man squad to face PSG in full
Goalkeepers: Alisson, Kelleher, Jaros, Davies
Defenders: Van Dijk, Konate, Quansah, Alexander-Arnold, Tsimikas, Robertson
Midfielders: Mac Allister, Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Jones, Elliott, Endo, McConnell, Nyoni
Attackers: Salah, Diaz, Gakpo, Jota, Nunez, Chiesa