Federico Chiesa’s Champions League absence explained by Arne Slot

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Federico Chiesa was not among the 21 players to travel for Tuesday’s match, and Arne Slot has explained why the Italian was a notable absentee from the squad. With Chiesa having been added to Liverpool’s Champions League squad after a season-ending ACL injury to Giovanni Leoni, he was expected to be in the matchday squad against Galatasaray.

With Slot speaking to the press on the eve of the match, he explained that a minor knock is why Chiesa was left behind on Merseyside. Slot said: “He got a little niggle, I think is the word you use in England, in the last game against Palace.

“He tried it today [Monday] but he couldn’t finish the (training) session, so we decided not to take him because in a few days it’s Chelsea.” With Slot otherwise having a full complement of options up front there was no need to risk Chiesa, with the Athletic’s James Pearce adding on X that the Italian “could” have featured in the European tie with it only a “little” issue. Chiesa has featured in six of Liverpool’s eight games so far this season – it took him until mid-January to reach that figure last season – for a total of 153 minutes, and his fitness will be constantly monitored.