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Arne Slot expects Ryan Gravenberch to be able to start for Liverpool against Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday, even though he played the full 90 minutes against Aston Villa.
Gravenberch scored and was a top performer as Slot's side beat Unai Emery's men by two goals to nil. And having only just come back from injury, the Liverpool man is likely to be ready again midweek despite the short turnaround.
"It depends on how his ankle feels now," Slot said on TNT Sports. "It’s of course a difference if you’ve been out with a muscle injury or with an ankle injury.
"I think he’s able to go again, but we have to see how he comes out of this game. But I think this game also gives a bit of energy on itself to play Real Madrid.
"But it’s true that we also have to be smart about the minutes because we have 19, 20 players available normally.
"With three or four out, that means a lot of minutes need to go to the same players, and when they go to the national team they have to play as well.
"I think Ryan is able to play [on] Tuesday again but we have to wait and see."
Liverpool kept a clean sheet and performed much better than of late, but now must build on that performance with matches against Real Madrid and then Manchester City coming up.
"Happy with the result, with the performance and what I saw today, not only from the players but also the support we got from the fans, was what we needed," Slot added.
"Maybe we were a bit more on the lucky side than we've been in the last few weeks, where in my opinion we were also unlucky. So, the mistake of their goalkeeper and the deflection led to two of our goals.
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"These are the margins we are talking about. I think in other games we've created more from open play than we did today. But in football it's about results, not about the chances you create from open play."
Liverpool.com says: Gravenberch was exceptional against Aston Villa on Saturday. He, Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai ran the show in the middle and something similar will be required against Real Madrid.
The big question is how to fit Florian Wirtz into the team. The German didn't start against Aston Villa but will expect to feature in the other two games this week, but Slot needs to get the balance right.
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