Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson is set to miss several season-defining games as Arne Slot’s hopes of ending the season with silverware have been dealt a blow.
In a fitness bulletin with more good news than bad, the Brazil No 1’s absence will be felt with significance ahead of crunch quarter-finals in the FA Cup and Champions League against Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain respectively.
Mohamed Salah is set to return to the team, though, having been forced to miss the recent loss at Brighton and skip Egypt’s international camp. It will mark the beginning of his farewell tour after announcing he will leave at the end of the season.
Alexander Isak will have two training sessions under his belt before the trip to City and could be fit enough for a short cameo off the bench.
That would be Isak’s first appearance since before Christmas after missing three and a half months with a fractured tibia suffered at Tottenham Hotspur on December 20.
Jeremie Frimpong is also back in training after suffering an issue with the Netherlands this week, though Slot must be careful over his involvement after multiple injuries this season.
Liverpool No 1 Alisson is dealing with his 11th case of injury or illness in the last three seasons
Alisson’s absence will be the biggest worry for head coach Slot. According to Transfermarkt data, the 33-year-old has suffered 11 separate cases of injury or illness in the past three seasons, many of which have been hamstring related.
He missed the game against Brighton before the international break and did not go to Brazil’s camp. He is unlikely to feature in either leg of the Champions League quarter-final against PSG, the European champions who knocked out Liverpool last year.
Alisson recently triggered a contract extension to keep him at Anfield until the end of next season at least – but the club’s succession planning started two years ago with the signing of Giorgi Mamardashvili from Valencia.
The Georgia keeper will deputise in the coming weeks. Slot has been known to play his No 3 goalkeeper in the early rounds of domestic cups when Alisson has been injured, but it would be a surprise to see Freddie Woodman start ahead of Mamardashvili at the Etihad Stadium.
Slot said: ‘(Alisson) will not be part of the Paris Saint-Germain games as well. He will be out for a bit longer. Towards the end of the season we expect him to be fit.’
On Isak stepping up his recovery, the boss added: ‘It will definitely be too fast to expect him in the starting line up, he trained with us yesterday for the first time after exactly 101 days out.
‘It will take a bit of time to give him a lot of minutes but we will make sure we do the right thing in terms of building him up.
‘It is a very good thing to have him on the training ground again. It will be even better to have available for games.’
