Both Liverpool and Real Madrid are without a number of players due to injury for Wednesday night’s Champions League clash at Anfield.
Kostas Tsimikas has been added to the Reds’ current fitness absentees, with Alisson Becker, Federico Chiesa and Diogo Jota also unavailable.
Trent Alexander-Arnold is back in training following around a fortnight on the sidelines but the vice-captain will not be considered for a start in the league-phase contest against Real.“Trent is in the squad but he will not be available to start,” head coach Arne Slot explained during Tuesday’s pre-match press conference.
“He can maybe make a few minutes, in an ideal world he maybe doesn’t, but if it is really necessary he can make a few minutes tomorrow but he is not going to start.”
The Dutchman added: “Federico is not in the squad yet. He is training with us, not the whole session, but mostly one or two parts of the session.Alisson is not there yet, Diogo is not there yet, Kostas is not there – he is having an injury as well, so it’s quite a list for us as well.”
A yellow card for either Ibrahima Konate or Alexis Mac Allister in this game would see them suspended for Liverpool’s next Champions League fixture – away at Girona.
Carlo Ancelotti’s Real will be without their top scorer, Vinicius Jr., at Anfield due to injury.
“With him not playing, we have to expect something else,” said Slot. “I think he played almost every game for Madrid so it’s again quite difficult for us now to understand what we can expect.“But what we do know what we can expect is 11 players with great quality and we try to prepare them in the best possible way.
“Will [Jude] Bellingham play as a 10? Will he play from the left? Will he play from the right? Will Endrick come in? Will [Arda] Guler start? They have so many options, which now is a bit more difficult for us to see what they’re going to do. If Vinicius would’ve been fit I think I’ve come up with their line-up, but now it is going to be a bit of a surprise for us maybe.
“But the thing we do know is that we play 11 great players in a very good team.”
Several other senior players, including Dani Carvajal, Eder Militao, David Alaba, Aurelien Tchouameni and Rodrygo, were also not part of the 19-man travelling squad Los Blancos announced on Monday.
Asked about deploying Federico Valverde at right-back in La Liga last weekend, Ancelotti told reporters on Tuesday evening: “Valverde played really, really well, I don’t have any doubts about him in that position.
“That was an emergency, we were forced into it. Lucas [Vazquez] came back in training yesterday, there’ll be another training session now. He’s an option.”
Defender Raul Asencio, meanwhile, is in line for a first Champions League appearance having made his senior debut for Real earlier this month.“I see a very mature player, he has got a lot of character and personality. I don’t see him [being] nervous at all, he is always focused on the game,” said Ancelotti.
“He has done well in the last two games. I’m sure he’s going to have a good performance tomorrow, I think he’ll perform.”
Last match
Southampton 2-3 Liverpool (November 24): Kelleher, Bradley, Konate, Van Dijk, Robertson, Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Jones, Gakpo, Salah, Nunez.
Leganes 0-3 Real Madrid (November 24): Courtois, Valverde, Asencio, Rudiger, Garcia, Guler, Camavinga, Ceballos, Bellingham, Vinicius Jr., Mbappe.
