Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has lifted the lid on his decision to name Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in his starting XI for the side’s Champions League clash with Maribor.
Oxlade-Chamberlain, 24, has struggled to make an impact on Merseyside, since his £40million move from Arsenal, and had not started a match for the Reds in Europe prior to Wednesday night.
The Englishman scored in Liverpool’s 7-0 thumping of Maribor in their previous encounter last month and has been rewarded with a start.
In the lead-up to kick-off, Klopp explained: ‘The team selection for tonight was [based on] that we need to have a team which is ready for a very intense start.
‘That’s what we want to have and what we need – a lively performance, speed, good in small spaces, good offers for runs in behind.
‘[It’s] a team which played together already. The only really new player is Ox, who is in.
‘He deserved it 100 per cent and can help us tonight hopefully. That’s all.’
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