Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino face a race against time to be ready for the crunch Premier League clash with Manchester United at Anfield.
Coutinho and Firmino are likely to be in action against Chile in Brazil's final World Cup qualifier in Sao Paulo which will finish in the early hours of Wednesday UK time, and will be the last of Jurgen Klopp's international contingent to return to Melwood.
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The duo will only return to Melwood on Thursday, with the crunch Premier League fixture at Anfield taking place at 12.30pm on Saturday. Liverpool sit seventh in the table and already seven points behind United – who are level on points with Manchester City at the top of the league – and will be desperate to record a much-needed win against Jose Mourinho's men.
The Reds' attacking double act will then board a private jet partly financed by Liverpool for the 12-hour, 6,000-mile journey back to the UK. They will be joined by Manchester City's Ederson, Fernandinho, Gabriel Jesus and Danilo as well as Chelsea's Willian, as reported by the Liverpool Echo.
But the Brazilian pair may struggle to be 100% ready for the match due to their international exploits, and with Tite's side having already qualified for next summer's World Cup in Russia, Jurgen Klopp will be hoping that the Brazil boss doesn't over-exert Coutinho and Firmino, who will be key to Liverpool's chances of inflicting a first league defeat of the season on United, according to the Metro.
The good news for the Reds boss is that flying wingers Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah will have nearly a full week to prepare for the game with United. Mane's Senegal face Cape Verde on Saturday night, while Salah's Egypt take on Congo 24 hours later.
Like Mane and Salah, England trio Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Daniel Sturridge, as well as Germany's Emre Can and Scotland's Andy Robertson will be back at Melwood on Monday following their qualifiers on Sunday.
Dejan Lovren, Ben Woodburn and Danny Ward are scheduled to return to club duties on Tuesday with Gini Wijnaldum, Simon Mignolet, Ragnar Klavan, Marko Grujic, Joe Gomez, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dominic Solanke to follow on Wednesday.
