Joel Matip has insisted that his fitness levels are high ahead of Liverpool’s Champions League clash with Bayern Munich next week.
Jurgen Klopp has seen his defensive options limited for the Reds’ last 16 fixture against the Bundesliga giants, but the former Schalke star has made assurances that he is ready for action.
Matip has featured in Liverpool’s last four outings after recovering fully from a collarbone injury, which he sustained in the team’s Champions League outing against Napoli before the turn of the year.
Virgil van Dijk will serve a one-match suspension as the Reds lock horns with Bayern next Tuesday, while Joe Gomez is out of action for the foreseeable future.
Klopp also confirmed that Dejan Lovren is struggling for fitness ahead of the match, leaving Matip as the club’s only recognisable, fit option in central defence.
As quoted by the Liverpool Echo, the Cameroonian centre-back insisted that he is fully fit and relishing the upcoming tests. He said:
My collarbone is completely fine now, but of course, every player needs some time on the field after an injury to get back to 100% and build up the match fitness, but that is getting better and better. I need some time but I feel that I am in a good way and the shoulder is okay.
We still have a lot of games to play and I have confidence in myself and trust myself and my qualities, so I hope that I will play in a lot of them. Like every player, I have to improve to stay in the manager’s mind.
