Jurgen Klopp Includes Virgil van Dijk, Nathaniel Clyne & Danny Ings in Champions League Squad

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has included Virgil van Dijk, Nathaniel Clyne and Danny Ings within his Champions League squad ahead of their last-16 tie with Porto later this month. 

Clyne, who has not featured for the Reds since their first pre-season outing against Tranmere Rovers back in July, missed out on the group stage selection with a back injury. 

However, according to the German, despite the England international still not being in contention for his matchday squad for the two-legged contest against the Portuguese side, the defender is closer to returning than he has been all season, and he will use him if given the opportunity during the latter rounds of the competition. 

"I'm not 100 per cent sure with Clyney, [he] is still not in team training but he is as close [as he has been] since the summer", Klopp told a press conference, as quoted by the club's official website.

"He's on a really good way, close to being back in team training but, how you can imagine, when you are that long out then it will probably take quite a while to be ready to play.

"I think we need to at least go one round further so that Clyney can be involved, there's no chance for him in the next round against Porto. So I hope he will make an impact."

Alongside the 26-year-old is the inclusion of striker Ings, who similarly to his teammate, missed out on the group stages through injury. 

"Ingsy, it's just nice. How it is with these European squads, it's an unbelievably difficult decision," he added. "You have injured players, you have players who are not fit and in the end you cannot have exactly the number you can nominate or put on the list.

"At the end, it's always a hard decision, they were really hard in the summer. I didn't know exactly if Clyney would be fit earlier, so it could have been he was fit in November but not in the Champions League squad, which would have been harsh for him for sure, as it was for Danny.

"I'm happy that they are now in the squad and that we could react to a few things."