Van Dijk starts for Liverpool in Club World Cup final

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Van Dijk starts in CWC final. GOAL

Liverpool will have a much more recognisable defence when they face Flamengo in Saturday's Club World Cup final.

Virgil van Dijk will start for Liverpool in the Club World Cup final against Flamengo in Doha on Saturday.

The Netherlands star sat out the 2-1 semi-final win over Monterrey after falling ill, meaning Jordan Henderson started at centre-back alongside Joe Gomez.

Van Dijk returns for the match at Khalifa International Stadium, though, while Trent Alexander-Arnold also comes back into the starting line-up at right-back in place of James Milner.

Henderson moves into midfield, with Adam Lallana dropping to the bench, while Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane come in for Divock Origi and Xherdan Shaqiri.

This will be the second competitive meeting between Liverpool and Flamengo, the Brazilians having won 3-0 in the previous meeting in the Inter-Continental Cup final in 1981.

Jurgen Klopp's side are aiming to win the FIFA tournament for the first time, having lost the 2005 final to Sao Paulo.