Five Atletico Madrid players do not travel to Anfield

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Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone have named their travelling squad to face Liverpool at Anfield on Monday evening.

The match marks the beginning of Liverpool’s 50th season in European competition, while Diego Simeone’s men arrive on Merseyside seeking to bounce back from an inconsistent start to the new campaign.

The spotlight will inevitably fall on Alexander Isak, Liverpool’s £125 million record signing who is poised to make his highly anticipated debut.

The Swedish striker has been carefully managed by Slot following his controversial departure from Newcastle, with the manager emphasizing the importance of proper preparation over rushing the forward into action.

Slot has been characteristically cautious about Isak’s integration, explaining the need to build a solid foundation before expecting match fitness.

The manager revealed post-Burnley that Isak could feature for approximately 45 minutes against Atletico, but stressed that supporters shouldn’t expect him to start against Everton in the weekend derby if he plays significant minutes on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid has named their 22-man travelling squad:

J.

Llorente, Lenglet, Molina

Hancko, Marc Pubill, Giuliano, Javi Galán, Raspadori, Nico, Le Normand, Taufik S., Rayane, Esquivel.

As a result, it has emerged that five Atletico players have not travelled to face the Reds:

Julian Alvarez:

Alvarez suffered knee discomfort during Atletico Madrid’s 2-0 victory over Villarreal on Saturday.

The Argentine forward was substituted at half-time after assisting Pablo Barrios for the opening goal.

He did not travel with the Atletico squad to Liverpool and has been officially ruled out of Wednesday night’s Champions League fixture.

Jose Maria Gimenez:

The Uruguayan centre-back has been sidelined since sustaining a thigh injury during the Club World Cup match against Seattle Sounders on June 20.

Gimenez has not featured at all this season and remains under treatment, having been spotted training individually as part of his rehabilitation process.

Alex Baena:

Atletico Madrid’s summer signing from Villareal is also out.

The Spanish winger initially suffered a low-grade muscle injury in August that sidelined him for two weeks.

However, just as he was expected to return after the international break, he required emergency laparoscopic surgery for acute appendicitis on September 2.

Thiago Almada:

The Argentine attacking midfielder suffered a muscle injury in his right leg while on international duty with Argentina during World Cup Qualifiers.

Almada played in Argentina’s 3-0 win over Venezuela but missed the subsequent 1-0 loss to Ecuador due to fitness issues.

The Anfield visit then comes to soon for Almada.

Johnny Cardoso 

The American midfielder sustained a sprain to his left ankle during training on Monday, just days before the Liverpool fixture.

Cardoso was ruled out of the Champions League opener and did not travel with the squad to Anfield?

The injury is not considered serious but will keep him sidelined for the immediate fixtures.

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