Ahead of Champions League kick-off, there's bad news at Liverpool

Although doubts remain over the team's form during the Merseyside derby, Liverpool are now looking ahead to the Champions League kickoff. But the news is not good as it was confirmed that two players were left out of the squad for Wednesday's group stage opener against Napoli at the Diego Armando Maradona stadium.

German coach Jürgen Klopp presented UEFA with a list of 24 players who will be available for this first stage of the European Championship. The list includes players who are currently injured, such as captain Jordan Henderson, Ibrahima Konaté and Thiago Alcantara, but who will return in the coming days.

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But the two big absentees are Guinea's Naby Keita and midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, both of whom have serious muscle problems and will not return to action for months. Keita has not played since the Reds beat Manchester City 3-1 at Wembley Stadium in the Community Shield, where he was injured.

While Chamberlain picked up a pre-season injury in a friendly match against Crystal Palace in July. The 29-year-old midfielder is set for two months on the sidelines and is expected to miss several weeks. This prompted Jürgen Klopp to sign Brazilian midfielder Arthur Melo from Juventus on loan ahead of the deadline.  

<strong>Surprise &#39;b list&#39; players</strong>

As a novelty, UEFA allows each participating team in the group stage to enter five extra players on a B-list. Jürgen Klopp took advantage of this space to sign up players such as Harvey Elliot who has had a great season with the first team and rookies such as Isaac Mabaya, Curtis Jones, Luke Chambers, Harvey Davies.