Liverpool have suffered a major injury blow with Jeremie Frimpong forced off in the first half at Frankfurt.
The Dutchman, who signed from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer, went down holding his hamstring early on in the Champions League clash in Germany.
He ultimately couldn’t continue, and was replaced by Conor Bradley after just 19 minutes.
The knock will come as a major setback for Frimpong, who has been blighted by injuries since moving to Merseyside.
On his league debut for the club against Bournemouth back in August, the 24-year-old suffered an injury which kept him out until mid-September.
And he now looks set to miss more football in what’s going to be a crucial period in Liverpool’s season after their recent woes. He joins Ryan Gravenberch, suffering with an ankle injury, on the sidelines for the Reds.
Jeremie Frimpong went down clutching his hamstring during Liverpool’s clash against Frankfurt
He was withdrawn by Arne Slot for Conor Bradley after just 19 minutes
Arne Slot picked something of a surprising starting eleven at Frankfurt just three days after his side slumped to a 2-1 home loss against rivals Manchester United.
The Dutchman dropped Milos Kerkez, Alexis Mac Allister and, in more shocking news, Mo Salah from his starting side for a game which Liverpool went into on the back of four consecutive losses.
Speaking about his team selection, Slot said: ‘What we need to do try today is to create as many chances as the last few weeks because that is very helpful that we have players who can score.
‘We are hoping and expecting Jeremie Frimpong and Cody Gakpo to create something for these two (Alexander Isak and Hugo Ekitike) with Florian Wirtz’s creativity in and around our two No 9s.
‘So that is looking at how they normally set up and that’s the idea. They can play together, they showed it against United, although it was the second half, but it means our midfield needs to be structured a little differently. Where we normally play with one (number) six, now we need Curtis and Dom to be more defensively-minded than one of the two usually is.’
Despite getting off to a nightmare start with the hosts going 1-0 up, Slot’s attacking lineup ultimately paid off.
Hugo Ekitike, on his return to Frankfurt, scored the Reds’ equaliser just minutes after his side went one down, before Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate both got their names on the scoresheet with powerful headers.
Slot’s side went into the break 3-1 up, with the Dutchman introducing cult hero Federico Chiesa for the second 45.
Two more goals followed in the second half from Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai to secure a dominant 5-1 win.
