Liverpool star misses training ahead of Atletico Madrid tie

Liverpool are in Champions League action for the first time this season as they look to make a winning start. The Reds host Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night. The fixture is a repeat of last season's dramatic meeting, when Liverpool raced into a 2-0 lead through Andy Robertson and Mohamed Salah before Marcos Llorente scored twice to level. UK ONLY Virgil van Dijk then struck in the second minute of added time to seal a 3-2 win and send Anfield wild. Liverpool will hope for a similar result this time around, although there have been significant changes since that encounter. Andoni Iraola has replaced Arne Slot as head coach, while the Reds are also adapting to life without Salah. Joe Gomez was present for Liverpool's open training session ahead of the Atletico clash, but Cody Gakpo was absent. Gakpo is now a major doubt for the Champions League clash after complaining of muscle tightness and missing Tuesday's training session at the AXA Training Centre. The Dutchman has been Liverpool's standout player under Andoni Iraola, scoring once and providing three assists in their opening three Premier League games. His potential absence could give £123million signing Bradley Barcola the chance to make his first Liverpool start after debuting from the bench against Ipswich Town last Friday. Iraola, meanwhile, says Barcola is 'ready to play more minutes' on Wednesday night. 'Yes, I think he played overall with extra time, 31 maybe or something like this [at Ipswich],' Iraola replied. 'I think he's ready to play more minutes. 'He has been training quite normally. The only thing is he hasn't had the pre-season minutes that normally players have. 'We have to consider this, but I see him in a really good place. I think he can play more minutes definitely. 'I don't see him like limited, no, I see him like a normal player with this circumstance that he hasn't had a lot of pre-season minutes to build his form. But I saw him playing very well and I think he is ready to play more, yes.' Wataru Endo was put through his paces despite being omitted from Liverpool's Champions League squad. Federico Chiesa, meanwhile, remains sidelined with a back problem and was also left out of the squad. Support DaveOCKOP and enjoy the site completely ad-free. You'll get an uninterrupted browsing experience while helping us continue to deliver the latest Liverpool news, breaking stories and exclusives. Go ad-free today.