Toni Kroos IS available for Real Madrid against Liverpool as the midfielder jets to England at the last minute after recovering from illness… having initially been ruled out of their Champions League trip to Anfield
- Kroos was initially left out of Carlo Ancelotti’s squad as he recovered from illness
- But after a late recovery the German made it into the squad hours before kick-off
- He is starting on the bench for Real in their last-16 first leg on Merseyside
Real Madrid have received a boost ahead of the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie against Liverpool at Anfield after Toni Kroos flew in from Spain to join the squad.
Kroos, 33, had been left at home along with fellow midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni due to illness but was deemed well enough to travel to England at the very last minute.
The German was not included in Carlo Ancelotti‘s initial 23-man squad for Tuesday’s match as he continued his recovery from gastroenteritis, which kept him out of their win at Osasuna at the weekend.
However, Madrid confirmed in a statement just hours before kick-off in Liverpool that Kroos is now in their squad after making a late dash to Merseyside.
It means Ancelotti now has close to a full squad for the first leg of their last-16 tie against the Reds, with only Tchouameni and left-back Ferland Mendy missing.
Toni Kroos is available for Real Madrid to face Liverpool after making a late trip to England
Carlo Ancelotti initially left Kroos out of his squad as he recovered from gastroenteritis
But after making a late recovery the German has been included in Real’s squad at Anfield
While he was fit enough to travel to England, Kroos has not made it into Ancelotti’s starting line-up and is instead amongst 12 Real substitutes at Anfield.
He started five of their six Champions League group-stage outings, while also starting 14 matches in LaLiga this season.
Thibaut Courtois has been deployed in goal, sitting behind a back four consisting of Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, Antonio Rudiger and David Alaba.
Federico Valverde, Eduardo Camavinga and Luka Modric line up in a three-man midfield for the visitors, with Rodrygo and Vinicius Junior flanking Karim Benzema in attack.
As for Liverpool, they have named an unchanged side from the team that won 2-0 away at Newcastle on Saturday.
Alisson gets the nod in goal and will be protected by Trent Alexander-Arnold, Joe Gomez, Virgil van Dijk and Andrew Robertson in defence.
Captain Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and Stefan Bajcetic make up the midfield, while Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo and Darwin Nunez start upfront.
Jurgen Klopp has named an unchanged Liverpool side from the weekend’s win at Newcastle
Madrid head into their showdown with the Reds in decent form, having picked up 4-0 and 2-0 victories over Elche and Osasuna since returning from the Club World Cup.
They became world champions for a fifth time out in Morocco, beating Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal 5-3 in the final earlier this month.
Liverpool also appear to have turned a corner of late after recording back-to-back wins against Merseyside rivals Everton and Newcastle.