Liverpool FC are set to open their UEFA Champions League campaign on Wednesday, and they’ll do so with a squad that is in a state of near full fitness. Alexander Isak missed out on the 1-0 weekend win over Burnley, but manager Arne Slot has hinted at his transfer fee record breaking signing likely being involved in midweek against Atletico Madrid.
Most likely though, it won’t be from opening kickoff, as he continues to build up match fitness after having missed all that time due to his lengthy bitter holdout from Newcastle United. So he should play, but not a whole lot.
UEFA Champions League Matchday 1 of 8
Liverpool FC vs Atletico Madrid
Kickoff: Wed. Sept 17, 8pm, Anfield, Liverpool, UK
Liverpool Preview Material: Team News Starting Lineup Prediction
Liverpool Team News
Moving on, Alexis Mac Allister was withdrawn at halftime of the Burnley win after being on the receiving end of a strong tackle from Lesley Ugochukwu. Slot made it clear that Mac Allister came off due to reasons of both injury and minutes management. It doesn’t sound like he’s seriously hurt, but he is still working on building himself up to full 90 minutes match fitness.
“Not tactically, it was a bit of both,” Slot said to the media in postgame yesterday.
“He missed a lot of pre-season. He is ready for one game a week, maybe 70-90 [minutes]. He played 90 for Argentina and was really tired after 70 so doesn’t have the right build-up to play three games a week, 90 minutes.
“I was always sure I would take him off after 60 minutes for him to be ready to be back on the pitch on Wednesday and Saturday and I already made one substitution in the first half. If I take him off on 60 minutes then I would have to make another one then if I want to make changes on 75 I can do nothing anymore.
“That combined with the tackle that was a tackle that he felt. I’m not surprised by the fact he felt that tackle, by the way.
And then finally, we have one more injury concern to cover, and it kind of came out of nowhere.
“Curtis Jones, of course, I don’t know if you knew, but he got injured in the last game,” Slot said on Friday, ahead of the weekend clash.
“He will not be available for the game against Burnley, but I think the rest of them all came back without a problem and that is not always the situation.”
So apparently Jones got hurt, although the injury was not specified, in the win over Arsenal ahead of the international break. Not much is known about his situation, so we can’t estimate when he might return, or really speculate on his availability for Wednesday night.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter