Arne Slot faces a major headache with eight players at risk of picking up bans in the Galatasaray clash and two Liverpool stars have already been confirmed out through injury
Liverpool will return to Champions League action on Tuesday, facing off against Galatasaray in the day’s early kick-off. Arne Slot’s squad have already suffered a defeat in Istanbul this season and will be aiming to avoid a repeat of their 1-0 loss last time out despite having to cope without some senior players.
Victor Osimhen netted the only goal of the match when the teams clashed in the autumn. However, Liverpool triumphed in their three other away fixtures in the league phase to finish third in the table. Galatasaray finished considerably behind in 20th place, with only one of the top 24 teams scoring fewer goals than the nine netted by the Turkish side.
The knockout play-offs painted a different picture though as Okan Buruk’s team clinched a 7-5 aggregate victory over Juventus after extra-time. Ahead of Tuesday’s kick-off, Liverpool must contend with some current absences as well as potential future ones. Here, the Daily Star Sport looks at the latest updates from around Anfield.
Eight face bans
Champions League regulations stipulate that any player who accumulates three yellow cards before the conclusion of the quarter-finals will receive a one-match suspension. This is another reason why Liverpool benefited from avoiding an additional play-off round, with Galatasaray at risk of losing up to seven players for the second leg if they’re booked in the first.
Compare that with Liverpool, where Curtis Jones remains the sole player currently on two yellows who might appear on Tuesday. Conor Bradley also sits on two cautions but has already been sidelined through injury.
Jones’ first booking arrived in the league phase clash against Galatasaray and his second came in the victory away to Inter Milan in December. Gala goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir and defenders Ismail Jakobs and Abdulkerim Bardakci were all cautioned against Liverpool as well as on one additional occasion, with Cakir and Bardakci receiving cards during the play-off round.
Leading scorer Victor Osimhen is also one match away from a suspension, as are Noa Lang, Davinson Sanchez and Roland Sallai. Nevertheless, midfielder Mario Lemina is no longer at risk of a similar ban after already serving a suspension for his three league phase yellows.
Duo absent from squad
Liverpool’s casualty list has grown ahead of their journey to Turkey with goalkeeper Alisson not included in the travelling party. The Brazil international is understood to have experienced some discomfort towards the end of the Reds’ final training session before the squad were scheduled to depart.
Federico Chiesa missed the session in question and as expected will also be unavailable. Trey Nyoni has travelled despite not being seen in Monday training.
With Alisson unavailable, Giorgi Mamardashvili is set to start on Tuesday. The Georgian shot-stopper made his Champions League bow at the same venue in September after Alisson was forced off with an injury and subsequently started against Eintracht Frankfurt, Real Madrid and PSV Eindhoven.
Mamardashvili has featured just once since shipping four goals to PSV in November, starting the FA Cup third round triumph over Barnsley. Freddie Woodman will be amongst the substitutes, having only appeared once since joining the Reds over the summer, whilst teenage keeper Kornel Misciur is also making the trip.