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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Paul Gorst

When Darwin Nunez will return for Liverpool as World Cup absences await

Darwin Nunez will miss Liverpool's clash with Lyon in Dubai this weekend with the Uruguay international due to meet up with his team-mates on Monday.

The Reds meet the Ligue 1 side in the first of two Dubai Super Cup fixtures on Sunday afternoon before they collide with AC Milan on Friday December 16.

Jurgen Klopp will have a large portion of his first-team squad to choose from with just seven Liverpool representatives involved at the World Cup in Qatar and the club flew out with a 33-man squad earlier this week to the United Arab Emirates.

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Liverpool will train at the world-renowned Nad al Sheba Complex and will play both their games at the 15,000-seat Al Maktoum Stadium.

Nunez was knocked out of the World Cup in dramatic fashion at the close of the group stages on December 2 as Uruguay were eliminated in the final moments, despite beating Ghana 2-0 in the last round of fixtures in Group H.

Liverpool granted the £64m striker time off after his exploits in Qatar, where he featured in all three of La Celeste's games before they were sent home by virtue of South Korea scoring more goals.

Nunez, who has scored nine goals in 18 appearances since joining from Benfica in the summer, will now link up with his colleagues on Monday as Liverpool get set to feel the benefit of choosing a mid-season training base so close to where the World Cup is being held in Doha. A flight between the respective regions is around an hour long, which was one of the deciding factors behind the choice of destination.

With Alisson Becker, Fabinho, Ibrahima Konate, Virgil van Dijk and England pair Trent Alexander-Arnold and Jordan Henderson still involved in Qatar, the Reds have a decent representation at the quarter-final stage.

However, with the last-eight ties beginning on Friday afternoon, UK time, it's highly unlikely any of the remaining Liverpool participants will play a part in the Milan match next week. And depending on the results, some could even be absent from the Reds' Carabao Cup meeting with Manchester City on December 22.

Goalkeeper Alisson is expected to start when Brazil meet Croatia in the day's early game on Friday before Van Dijk captains the Netherlands in a repeat of the 2014 semi-final against Lionel Messi's Argentina later that day.

Henderson is in line to start England's clash with France on Saturday evening although Trent Alexander-Arnold is expected to continue on the bench having only played around 30 minutes of the tournament so far. Konate, however, could start for Les Bleus at the Al Bayt Stadium.

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