Why Alisson Becker and Thiago Alcantara are absent for Liverpool friendly vs Karisruher

Liverpool kick-off their pre-season campaign against Karisruher this evening.

The Reds return to action for the first time in more than two months as they face the German second-tier side during their training camp in the Black Forest.

Jurgen Klopp has named a strong side, with Dominik Szoboszlai handed his unofficial debut and lines up alongside the likes of Mo Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Luis Diaz and Virgil van Dijk.

But there are several players missing from the Liverpool squad. One of those includes captain Jordan Henderson, who is the subject of interest from Saudi Arabia side Al-Ettifaq. Henderson has travelled to Germany but has been omitted from match duty while Fabinho - who is wanted by Al-Ittihad in a £40 million deal - did not make the trip.

What’s more, Thiago Alcantara and Stefan Bajcetic are not involved against Karisruher. Both midfielders underwent operations towards the end of last season and are being eased back into match action.

Another absence from the squad is goalkeeper Alisson Becker. The Brazil No.1 suffered a minor finger injury when on international duty in June and that may be way he misses out. Caoimhin Kelleher instead features between the posts, with Liverpool-based reporter Neil Jones has posted on Twitter that Alisson is absent as a precaution.

Liverpool: Kelleher, Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Alexander-Arnold, Clark, Szoboszlai, Diaz, Salah, Nunez.

Subs: Jaros, Mrozek, Gomez, Mac Allister, Gakpo, Jota, Tsimikas, Matip, Scanlon, Doak, McConnell, Koumas, Quansah.