Jürgen Klopp admits Liverpool will consider changes to their starting line-up for Wednesday’s Champions League tie with Genk, but only out of necessity.

The Reds will definitely be forced to make two alterations to the XI they fielded at Manchester United at the weekend due to Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joel Matip missing the trip to Belgium due to illness and a knee knock respectively.

However, in positive news, Mohamed Salah was included in the 19-man squad that departed John Lennon Airport on Tuesday afternoon as he continues his recovery from an ankle issue.

Speaking to reporters at his pre-match press conference at the KRC Genk Arena, Klopp acknowledged his side were in the midst of an ‘intense period’ and, therefore, he and his coaching staff would consider alterations to the line-up, but only to ensure Liverpool are as best readied as possible for the challenge ahead.

It was one of several topics the manager discussed during the media briefing, which also included questions on Adrian’s reaction to the return to fitness of Alisson Becker, the form of Naby Keita and his side’s away record in the Champions League.

Read on for a summary of what Klopp had to say in Genk…

On whether Liverpool will make changes to their line-up for the game…

There is no Champions League game that is ‘straightforward’. If you saw Genk - and it makes absolute sense that you do that before you judge an opponent - against Salzburg, not the result, the game, after half an hour if you would suggest the result, the result that was there at the end would not be part of any ideas of anybody. It just didn’t look like that, they were really good. They lost the game, but against Napoli it was good. We don’t want to make Genk bigger than they are, but they are in the Champions League, they play good football, they are at home and they can be annoying, like they were against Napoli. Napoli had big chances, but Genk had parts of the game.

They play good football and are a brave team that last year became champions in Belgium, which is not so easy. They lost a couple of players but found others and are again a good team. They changed the manager and all that stuff. We just have to be here with the right mindset.

Yes, for us it is a very intense period; some of my players have already had 17 games, that’s half of a season in Germany, with international games and stuff like that. It’s no problem, we are not tired, not at all. It’s all good, but of course we have two positions we have to change anyway with Joel and Trent. Then let’s see what we can do on top of that, but it is never for changing, it’s always for being best prepared for the next opponent - and that is Genk tomorrow. We wanted to find a team - and I think we found a team - which can make life uncomfortable for Genk. That’s a very important part of the game.

On Adrian’s response to Alisson’s return to full fitness…

I think he was maybe a little bit disappointed but he didn’t show it at all. It was clear from the first second when Adrian signed the contract that as long as Ali is fit and doesn’t make 10 or 15 mistakes in a row, we will not talk about the position No.1 or No.2. That was clear from the beginning, it was always clear that in the moment when he [Alisson] is fit again that he will play. He [Adrian] took it completely calm, professional and in training you didn’t see anything. I think they are quite good with each other, similar language at least, so the spirit in that training group is really good with John [Achterberg] and Jack [Robinson] together with Caoimhin [Kelleher]. They are really five goalkeeper experts. I like watching them, I have no clue what they do but I like watching them! Now, let’s make sure Ali can get rhythm back. In training it looks unbelievable, but the games are something different. I am really looking forward for a healthy season for Ali from now on, that would be really cool.

On when Naby Keita is likely to be named in the starting line-up following his impact on Sunday…

Soon. I don’t know when he will start, but Naby is one-and-a-half weeks in full training. It’s not a lot, but he looks good in training, really good. They all look good in training, that’s why we made the changes we made [at Old Trafford] because we really knew they could have an impact in that game. I was really happy, it was the best news of the whole day - not the result or the goal we scored, which was nice, but that these three guys, who are very important players for us, in a moment when it is not easy to have rhythm or get rhythm, could perform like this in a game. In training I see it a lot, so that was the best news. I don’t know [when he will start] but it will not be long anymore.

On Liverpool’s away record in the Champions League in the last two seasons…

Last year we were lucky with how tight the group was, in that we could lose three times away and still have a chance to make it through the group. That will not happen this year, it will not happen. No, we don’t rely on home games or whatever, but obviously we like to say European nights at Anfield are really special. Other teams can make a special atmosphere too and it can be difficult there. They are not all the same, we could have won away games, to be honest, performance-wise, which we didn’t win for some reason. We know that it’s not historically good what we did in the last two years [in terms of the away form], but in general the Champions League was obviously really good for us. We did the right things at least in the right moment, but we don’t rely on these things. We know we have to improve and we try again and again and again until it works out.