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Jurgen Klopp hands Loris Karius starting Liverpool role, for now

Loris Karius kept a clean sheet in Liverpool's 4-0 win over Arsenal last month
Image: Loris Karius kept a clean sheet in Liverpool's 4-0 win over Arsenal last month

Loris Karius will start in goal for Liverpool's Champions League return, but that does not make him Jurgen Klopp's number one.

Klopp handed Karius an unexpected start in Liverpool's 4-0 win over Arsenal last month, only for Simon Mignolet to regain his place in between the sticks for the 5-0 defeat to Manchester City in the Reds' following fixture.

The Liverpool boss will put his faith back in compatriot Karius for the club's group stage opener against Sevilla on Wednesday night, but Klopp insists that is no reflection of his long-term plans.

"If nothing happens overnight then Loris will start, yes, but no it doesn't mean that [Karius is now number one]," said the Reds boss.

"Why do we think number one, two, three is fixed until the end of all days? I don't want to bring that in doubt but how can you ask if he's number one? By the way, it's not that he shouldn't be number one.

"If they train bad they don't deserve a game, but they both train really well, they keep the level really high.

"If we don't give them a game then every year we have to find a number two, 33 years old, who still can catch a few balls and doesn't want to play any more - that's really difficult, to find someone like that.

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"I prefer having a group of good goalkeepers and that means you have to change things.

"That's the plan. Not to keep them happy, no, to use the quality of the goalkeepers and that's how it is, to keep them together and then they will decide with the performance who will play.

"Are all players happy with the decision? I don't know - it's nothing I can think about too much."

Karius was given a 10-match run in the Premier League last season, his first in England, between September and December but was taken out of the firing line by Klopp after criticism began to mount over his performances.

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Asked whether his compatriot was now being handed a second chance to re-establish himself, Klopp added: "Could he prove something? I think he did [against Arsenal].

"He was very cool with the ball, I know for some people too cool with the ball but that can happen with no rhythm, so now he has had the game it helped him a lot, us also and now he will start tomorrow."

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