Liverpool's Can making steady progress, may feature in UCL final

Liverpool’s threadbare midfield could be set for a massive boost at precisely the right time.

Five days after returning to first-team training following a protracted hiatus stemming from a back injury in mid-March, midfielder Emre Can’s recovery could see him in line for a return for Saturday’s Champions League final versus Real Madrid.

Following Monday’s training session at Anfield, Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp was asked if Can’s steady progress in his recovery could see him play a part in Kyiv. “It depends,” Klopp said, courtesy of the club’s official website.

“With Emre or players in the situation of Emre it depends on the reaction on things (but) let me say it like this: 10 days ago, I didn’t think it was possible that he could do what he did today, and that he could do what he did in Marbella already.”

James Milner, who also plays a key midfield role for the Merseyside lot, also returned to the club’s Marbella training sabbatical after missing the last match of the league campaign for precautionary reasons. Milner is set to start as part of a three-man midfield alongside Jordan Henderson and Georginio Wijnaldum, though the season and World Cup-ending injury for Alex-Oxlade Chamberlain leaves the middle of the park a bit thin ahead of the continental clash between two of Europe’s most successful sides.

Should Can make enough progress to be deemed fit for the final in the Ukranian capital, Klopp could be faced with a welcome option.

“That looked good and my impression of him is really positive, but we have to wait again until tomorrow,” Klopp admitted. “But the door, of course, is open. It’s really nice to have him back in the group and he is really desperate to be part of (the final) and we will see.”