Mohamed Salah was told by Jurgen Klopp to "be ready" to feature in Liverpool 's Champions League quarter-final second leg against Benfica, despite being rested like six of his star teammates.
The Reds boss rung in the changes for round two with the Portuguese giants, who Liverpool beat 3-1 in Lisbon last week to give themselves a two-goal cushion back at Anfield. Alongside Salah, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson, Fabinho, Thiago Alcantara and Sadio Mane also dropped to the bench.
Only Alisson Becker, Joel Matip, Jordan Henderson and Diogo Jota kept their places from Sunday's thrilling 2-2 draw with Manchester City, which went down as a missed opportunity for the Reds to move top of the Premier League table. But Liverpool will face the Citizens again on Saturday, this time for an FA Cup semi-final which Klopp clearly had in mind, when selecting his team against Benfica.
In a show of faith to what he labelled his 'best Liverpool squad to date' pre-match, the Reds boss drafted in Joe Gomez, Ibrahima Konate, Konstantinos Tsimikas, James Milner, Naby Keita, Roberto Firmino and Luis Diaz. Explaining his decisions to BT Sport, Klopp said: "You saw the games, they were all spectacular for different reasons. We have to be ready for a tough game. We are ready to make a proper game of it."
"The reason for the changes is I expect a tough game and I want fresh legs. I want the excitement and desire. I have to make decisions before I know the outcome but I like the team and it is a team that will go for it.
"I told the boys to be ready. The plan is to make five subs. They all have to be ready. We have a chance to go to the semi-final of the Champions League. If we don't fight for it, Benfica should go to the semis and not us."
The German had lamented his team's hectic schedule during his press conference on Tuesday, laying blame at broadcast companies. "We are part of four competitions, and thankfully we are good enough this year not to go out early, but the fixture list we have now, let's get through it," Klopp began on a lengthy rant.
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"The only game I am concerned about is Benfica. Because of the success we had so far we play Saturday against City, but it could have been Aston Villa [in the Premier League]. Then we play United, then we play Everton. Then, if we get through tomorrow, we have a semi-final and BT and the Premier League thought we should have Newcastle away at 12:30.
"The schedule, and how people use the fame in the moment – Liverpool is hot and everyone wants to see them – they couldn’t care less, the TV stations. It's just not okay. If we play a Champions League semi-final, find me another league in the world and another broadcaster who would put the one team in the semi-finals – it might be two or three English teams – on at 12:30.
"It's like: 'Throw them a little stick between the legs!' What? What are you doing? Why would you do that? That's why it's so difficult, that's why it never happens, because nobody cares. It's unbelievably difficult. We are still in three competitions and we play City; you saw how difficult that was.
"How could I sit here now and think about other cups? We play Benfica tomorrow and how can I sit here thinking about winning the Champions League? I don’t. We just try to squeeze everything out to stay as long in the competition as somehow possible and then be there in the final, hopefully, or in the league to make the last decisive step."
