Report: ‘Outstanding’ Liverpool player likely to return to starting line-up to face Napoli tomorrow

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James Milner looks set to take his place in Liverpool’s line-up to face Napoli in the Champions League tomorrow.

That’s according to The Mirror, who report that it ‘seems likely’ that Milner will be in Jurgen Klopp’s starting XI.

They go as far as saying that the 36-year-old is ‘sure’ to record his 295th appearance for Liverpool in Naples.

Milner has played a part in every one of The Reds seven games this season. Having come off the bench in the last three, he looks ready for a return to start in Italy tomorrow.

Liverpool still relying on ever-green Milner

Milner has been a brilliant servant for Liverpool and today’s article in The Mirror goes some way to highlighting that.

Should he play tomorrow, he will be jump ahead of Michael Owen in terms of all-time appearances. 12 more games would reportedly see him enter the club’s top 60.

Milner’s appearance from the bench at Goodison Park on Saturday was his 600th in league competition. It was his 820th of a remarkable career, and he’s not done yet.

It’s those kind of statistics that have led to him being labelled as ‘outstanding’ by Jurgen Klopp via liverpoolfc.com.

Still, the fact remains that he should no longer be a starter in key games for Liverpool. To get into a position where Milner is still part of the midfield that travels for the toughest game in the group isn’t good at all.

The fact that he looked so ragged when coming off the bench at Goodison won’t fill many fans with confidence. Yes, he was playing at right-back, but that’s obviously a role Klopp sees him as playing.

The veteran really struggled to get up to the pace of the game and was beaten too easily on numerous occasions. It didn’t prove costly in the end for Liverpool, but Napoli have more quality than Everton.

Milner is deservedly a celebrated figure at Liverpool. Once he departs Anfield the club will miss his leadership and standard-setting. But in these kind of games, they badly need to be fielding a midfield with more legs.

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