Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp will make player welfare top priority heading into the Champions League dead rubber at home to Porto but believes he can still select a side which respects the competition.
Victory last time out against Atletico Madrid means Klopp's side qualified for the last 16 with two matches to spare.
With at least eight players already injured or doubtful for the match, the Reds boss knows he has to manage his options with 12 games in 40 days.
He has been punished before as last December he played Diogo Jota in a match against Midtjylland which had nothing riding on it and lost the forward for three months – a decision he "hated" but would not do differently.
"We always respect the competition but we have to think about ourselves and our schedule and the situation of our players first," he said.
"In this time of the season, the medical department has a big hand in line-ups.
"It’s really easy to sit there, all the people who judge us, and say 'leave him out, leave him out, leave him out’.
"If we leave them all out and play with a team that is not a Champions League team – we don’t have enough players for that, by the way – then nobody can get injured.
"We have to line up a team who has a chance to win a football game. The Diogo situation was very unlucky. I hated it, that I made the decision.
"But would I have made the decision the same again? That’s the only question I have to answer. Yes, I would have again, because you need stability.
"We cannot play football games with this line-up, then next a game line-up which has no chance to win a game, then bring them back again.
"Players need rhythm, all these kinds of things. Do I make the decision because I don’t care who gets injured in the line-up tomorrow?
"No, I can’t and I will not. These things happen in football. Hopefully nothing happens tomorrow."
Captain Jordan Henderson was only fit enough for a substitute’s role against Arsenal on Saturday, a match left-back Andy Robertson missed after he sustained an injury on Scotland duty.
Klopp said both could play against Porto but neither was fully fit. Two players who are likely to get a run-out, though, are Takumi Minamino and academy graduate Tyler Morton.
Liverpool midfielder James Milner has also returned to training after a hamstring injury which has sidelined him for a month.
"Taki was pretty much our option for changing five positions in the Arsenal game and that says a lot," added Klopp.
"His confidence has grown in the last few months and you can see how good a player he is. He will get his minutes (over the course of the next couple of months), definitely."
The 19-year-old Morton’s first-team debut only came in September’s Carabao Cup win at Norwich, while he made his first Premier League appearance as a late substitute at the weekend.
"In pre-season he was with us and you could see his technical skills but he was not overly-confident," said Klopp.
"Then he came on against Norwich and played a super game. That made all the difference.
"You could see the next day how the confidence level exploded overnight. I saw the real Tyler Morton 2021.
"He’s in a good place at the moment, now let’s work from here."
Meanwhile, Liverpool midfielder Thiago Alcantara insists he "100%" made the right choice moving to Anfield and is fully committed to the club despite being linked with a return to Barcelona.
Reports in Spain have claimed the Catalans' new coach Xavi wants to bring his former team-mate back to the Nou Camp.
Thiago has had a difficult start to his first 18 months in England after contracting Covid-19 shortly after arriving and then being ruled out for almost three months with a knee injury sustained in his first Merseyside derby.
A calf problem has only just seen him return from another two-month absence and while all those interruptions have meant he has yet to show his best form for Jurgen Klopp’s side, the 30-year-old has no doubts over his decision to leave Bayern Munich in a £20m deal.
"One hundred per cent I made the right choice, the right move," he said.
"You never know because the injuries make you stop your frequency to play, to know much more of how your team performs on the pitch.
"You can watch your football every time and the theory is awesome but the practice is even better.
"I hate that me and my team-mates got injured but it’s part of our job and part of life. When we are fit we have to have as high performances as we can."
On those links with a return to Barcelona he added: "As I always have been, I am a guy who plays football. I am not concerned about the rumours.
"I’m focused on the duty I have with my team and the years I have in contract with my team.
"I just want to know about this new adventure that I have here in the Premier League and to try to win all the trophies I can and my commitment is much more with this team."
Thiago’s world-class playmaking abilities were hailed as being the game-changer which would take Liverpool to the next level but that has, so far, not emerged.
But the Spain international is determined to persevere and succeed in England.
Asked why he moved to Liverpool, he added: "Because I wanted to win and go away from my comfort area and try new things.
"It’s football, it’s about learning. With my experience and knowledge in football I can be better learning new things, so why not? At the end, I want to win.
"That’s the biggest thing I have in my mind, I want to be dominant in a game. Why not here with Jurgen and these team-mates?"
Thiago is one of the few players to have benefited from being coached by both Klopp and Pep Guardiola.
"You can see the difference between Jurgen and Pep," he said ahead of the Champions League dead rubber at home to Porto.
"They both have the same charismatic character and have a group in their hands, they know what to do to make them perform better and to help them in difficult situations.
"The similarities are there and the differences you can see how the teams play. One has more possession and one has wildness with control, at the same point.
"It’s great, both are doing what they want in the greatest way football can bring."
