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Liverpool travelled to Porto this morning ahead of their Champions League knockout round match against the Portuguese league leaders on Wednesday, and there was a surprise inclusion in the travelling squad in the form of Nathaniel Clyne.
The right back has missed the entire season to date with a back injury and wasn’t even named to the Champions League squad in the autumn, but space was found for the 26-year-old England international when squad lists were resubmitted in January.
His inclusion in the travelling squad, though, doesn’t mean he’s going to be involved—Emre Can, suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards, was also included, as was the injured Joe Gomez and reserve goalkeeper Kamil Grabara.
Rather it’s tied to the fact that following the match on Wednesday night and with a ten day break due to having fallen out of the FA Cup, rather than flying back to Liverpool the Reds will head directly to Marbella for a warm weather training camp.
It’s become the favoured approach for Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp, to take the team away from Liverpool for a brief break and training camp any time there’s a gap of more than a week between games, so it’s no surprise to see that continue.
Clyne’s inclusion in the travelling squad, though, does suggest he will be taking part in the camp—which means that even if he won’t be on the bench against Porto, he could be back in action for the Reds very soon, perhaps even for West Ham on the 24th.