Tuesday’s Champions League injury report: Another key Liverpool star out?

As was the case last week, there are a raft of high profile players that are either certain or highly unlikely to be in action as their respective clubs return to Champions League action in midweek, with the following in line to miss out from Tuesday’s fixtures.

Liverpool vs Bayern Munich

The big blow to Jurgen Klopp ahead of the Bundesliga champions’ trip to Anfield is of course the absence of Virgil van Dijk through suspension, though the Dutchman may yet be joined on the sidelines by as many as five first team players.

Fellow defender Joe Gomez and England international Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain are the long-term absentees for the Reds, while Xherdan Shaqiri and Dejan Lovren are both doubts. The expected unavailability of the latter is set to see Fabinho start out of position at centre-back alongside Joel Matip, so the visitors will certainly be confident of causing problems.

Meanwhile, the latest blow pre-match has been Roberto Firmino’s absence from training on Monday due to illness, though it remains to be seen whether the virus will keep the Brazilian out. If he were to miss the match, Daniel Sturridge, Divock Origi and Adam Lallana would be the options to replace the forward, with the possibility of the latter pushing Mohamed Salah into a central position.

Bayern are also without a player due to suspension in the form of Thomas Muller, while Arjen Robben and Corentin Tolisso are also definitely out. Niko Kovac will therefore hope that the in-form Kingsley Coman can recover quickly from the injury that forced the Frenchman off at Augsburg on Friday having scored twice in a 3-2 victory beforehand.

Lyon vs Barcelona

Just like Liverpool and Bayern, Lyon have a player ruled out through suspension, and the absence of Nabil Fekir promises to be as big a blow to their chances as that of Van Dijk for the Reds. The France international has earned the team’s highest WhoScored.com rating in the Champions League (7.75) and scored for the fourth game in his last six league appearances at the weekend.

Elsewhere the Ligue 1 outfit will be without former Manchester United right-back Rafael, while Bruno Genesio is also sweating on the fitness of key men in the form of centre-back Jason Denayer - who seems unlikely to play - and hot property Tanguy NDombele in the middle of the park.

Barcelona have fewer concerns ahead of the trip to France, though midfielder Arthur remains sidelined and is likely to be joined by Samuel Umtiti, who is back in training but hasn’t featured since November. On a positive note for the visitors, both Lionel Messi and Ousmane Dembele have recovered from recent injuries and will start in a front three either side of Luis Suarez.