Liverpool vs Napoli: Has Andy Robertson dropped a major selection hint?

Liverpool left-back Andy Robertson may have dropped a major selection hint ahead of the Champions League clash against Napoli.

The Reds take on the Italian side on Wednesday night and Robertson revealed to the Echo that he’s still playing through the pain barrier.

It was a major doubt whether Robbo would be available for the 2-1 win over Crystal Palace, and the Scotland international said that he had pushed his troublesome ankle in order to take part in the victory.

“It is still painful but… I was desperate to play and the gaffer asked me if I was okay,” the defender said. After dropping out of his country’s last two games, we’d all been worried that Andy Robertson wouldn’t be available for Saturday.

But he said he could miss future games in order to prolong his season.

“Sometimes you need to be a bit clever,” said the left-back, when talking about sitting out of specific fixtures in order to remain fresh for longer.

Liverpool have secured their qualification to the next round of the Champions League and the winner will go through as group leaders – ensuring an easier clash in the last 16.

But Klopp could take this opportunity to rest Robbo and play James Milner or Joe Gomez in his place. The Reds go again on Saturday against Brighton and this could be a more important fixture, in the grand scheme of things, than the Napoli game.

Milner has bags of experienced playing at left-back in this competition and he wouldn’t necessarily weaken the side by being in it, but not playing Robertson is a decision that has to be thought about carefully.

You’d expect Mohamed Salah to feature after missing out on Saturday, even though he nearly came on before Roberto Firmino scored the winning goal.

“Mo was not needed although he was stripped when Bobby scored and sat back down,” concluded Robertson.

Liverpool have a habit of leaving things late, although hopefully this is one game that’ll be wrapped up nice and early.