- Arne Slot confirmed that a Liverpool star suffered an injury on Tuesday night
- He was forced off during the Reds’ 2-1 win over Lille in the Champions League
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Ruben Amorim looks desperate… it’s a last resort to publicly out your players
Arne Slot confirmed that one of his Liverpool players had to be substituted due to an injury on Tuesday night.
The Reds took a huge step towards topping the Champions League group phase after triumphing 2-1 against in-form French club Lille at Anfield.
Mohamed Salah opened the scoring for the Reds with a trademark finish in the first half, breaking away from the defence after being slotted through superbly by Curtis Jones.
Lille, who were reduced to 10 men after Aissa Mandi was shown a second yellow card for his late challenge on Luis Diaz, grabbed a shock equaliser just past the hour mark, restoring hope for the French side, who had gone 21 games unbeaten heading into the clash on Merseyside.
But thanks to a slice of good fortune, Harvey Elliott’s deflected shot from distance just five minutes later put Liverpool back in front, taking their Champions League points tally to 21 following seven matches in the group phase.
However, Slot revealed that Jones had to be substituted at the break after struggling with an injury in the first half, joining Joe Gomez and Diogo Jota in Liverpool’s list of currently sidelined players.
Curtis Jones was forced off with an injury in Liverpool’s 2-1 win over Lille on Tuesday night
Arne Slot confirmed that the midfielder wished to continue but he could not play through it
Jones assisted Mohamed Salah’s opener and dedicated his celebration to the Egyptian star
‘Yeah, the idea was to take Dom [Szoboszlai] off and Ryan [Gravenberch] off at half time, but Curtis unfortunately couldn’t continue so that’s why Dom stayed a bit longer,’ he said.
‘There was a moment in the game [when] he said, “Let’s play for five more minutes and then let’s see how it is.” But he said he had to come out at half-time.
Slot continued to note that victory against Lille was vital in the Reds’ hopes to finish in the top eight of Champions League table and secure automatic qualification to the Round of 16, which is why he wanted to field a strong XI.
However, with Jones’ injury, his hand was forced to give more minutes to other midfielders.
‘We wanted to win this game but we were also aware of the fact that we had to manage the loads,’ Slot added.
‘We would have been really, really, really unlucky if we would have lost twice and still not been in the top eight. As we know now, I think 18 points would have been enough to play top eight. But with 21 there is no discussion.’
He went on to reveal that he planned to play Conor Bradley for the full 90 minutes, who returned to the starting XI after some time away due to injury.
Bradley was brought off in the 86th minute for Trent Alexander-Arnold, which Slot said was simply precautionary, as Liverpool prepare for a busy schedule ahead.
Slot revealed that he was forced to change his in-game plans to manage his side’s injury issues
Liverpool top the Champions League table on 21 points, three points ahead of Barcelona behind
‘Conor, the idea was to play 90, but in the end you could see it got more tough and tough and tough for him in terms of loads,’ he said.
‘So you don’t want to take the risk of him getting injured in the last few minutes like what happened against.’
The Dutchman’s side have two more fixtures to play this month and a further seven in February alone.
They remain in all four competitions, as they chase silverware and look to cap off a fairy tale first year on Merseyside for Slot.
