James Milner is reportedly set to start in Liverpool‘s opening Champions League clash with Napoli on Wednesday, September 7.
According to David Maddock of The Mirror (as per Sport Bible), Milner will start in central midfield due to the current injury crisis at the club.
The Reds are currently without Thiago Alcantara, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Curtis Jones. Club captain Jordan Henderson will also miss three weeks of action due to a hamstring injury he picked up against Everton over the weekend.
Milner has started two of Liverpool’s six Premier League encounters so far and has played a part in all the other encounters. The former England international has been criticized for his sluggish displays.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are set to begin their Champions League campaign at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium aiming to claim their seventh European crown. They will be hoping to bounce back from the previous campaign where they suffered an agonizing defeat against Real Madrid in the final.
Liverpool midfielder James Milner wants to play for as long as possible
The Reds vice-captain made his storied career’s 600th professional appearance in the league in Saturday’s Merseyside derby.
After the game, he told Liverpool’s official website that he doesn’t think too much about those types of landmarks, as he explained:
“It’s one of those you probably think about when you’re finished. You hit milestones and numbers of games, and when you say that number, it is a lot! But for me I just want to keep contributing as much as I can at the football club, and that means every day in training and in every game to try to make as big an impact as I can to make the football club successful.”
The Reds’ number seven added:
“I feel good and you’re a long time retired, so I want to keep playing for as long as I can. And let’s face it, there are worse places to be playing football than for Liverpool Football Club. So it’s great to be here and I enjoy the pressure and I enjoy the drive.”
Milner is now fourth on the all-time Premier League appearances list and is far behind Gareth Barry’s record of 653. The veteran added to his former England teammate:
“Gareth was a machine who kept going and played in every game all the time. It’s a bit of a different role for me as I’m not starting every single game, so like I say, it’s not something I look at.”