Caoimhin Kelleher eager to seize every opportunity
over 4 years in The Irish Times
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp has not made a decision on what side to pick for the Champions League dead rubber against Midtjylland but insists he still wants to win the match.
With the Reds already qualified as Group D winners, Klopp has the rare luxury of resting some of his over-worked senior players — Andy Robertson has played every minute of every Premier League match this season, for example — and offering more chances to youngsters.
He has to make a decision over his goalkeeper, with 22-year-old Caoimhin Kelleher currently deputising for Alisson.
The Republic of Ireland Under-21 international has kept two clean sheets in his two appearances so far — debuts in both the Champions League and Premier League.
“Yeah it’s been a decent week. What can I say?” he said. “Two debuts in one week, it’s been a bit of a mad one.
“I’ve just been trying to take my opportunities when I’ve had them. I’ve had two games, and felt I did well in them. That’s all I can do.”
But Klopp has said there is still a burden of responsibility on him and the club to be competitive.
“Our Champions League squad was really already very young, we have had four, five, six players involved in the squad so far and yes they will travel and then we will make decisions,” he said.
“The analysis is not finalised yet and they will all play a part in my my thinking. It is the first time we don’t have to get a result in the last match of the group stage and so we have to consider the general situation, that’s clear, but we have to consider we are Liverpool and we want to win the game.
“All these things will lead to a line-up.”
Klopp will have none of the players currently injured — Xherdan Shaqiri, Alisson Becker, James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Thiago Alcantara, Virgil Van Dijk and Joe Gomez — available for the game, while those who featured in Sunday’s victory over Wolves have only completed recovery sessions so far.