Arne Slot has confirmed one piece of very welcome injury news for Liverpool ahead of their Champions League clash against Girona this evening.
The Reds will be without several first-team players for the match in Spain, as Federico Chiesa, Diogo Jota (injured) and Alexis Mac Allister (suspended) didn’t travel with the squad, but one familiar face has made the trip ahead of a possible return to the line-up.
As the club confirmed in official correspondence on Monday, Alisson Becker has travelled to Catalonia, having been sidelined for the last two months with a muscle problem.
Slot confirms Alisson injury boost
When asked in Monday’s pre-match press conference if the Brazil goalkeeper is fit to start against Girona, Slot replied (via Liverpool FC on YouTube): “Yes he is.”
The Reds boss continued: “I think it speaks for itself if you can play with Alisson, [who] has been so outstanding for this club for so many years and for the Brazil national team. [It] is definitely nice to have him back and to have him available, but if you then look at how his replacement did, it’s not going to be easy to do it even better.
“We expect definitely the same and maybe on margins a bit better, but Caoimh [Kelleher] also did so well that we can say that we have two very good goalkeepers, like our left wingers, that can do the job for us.”
Slot now has a pleasant selection headache
Slot has gone on record to state that Alisson will go straight back into the team once he’s fully fit, so the Liverpool head coach may have already confirmed one change to his starting line-up to face Girona.
That’s certainly no slight on Kelleher, who’s performed magnificently throughout his time covering for the Brazilian stopper and, despite a rare error against Newcastle last week, can absolutely be trusted to start in this Reds side.
It nonetheless seems likely that LFC’s number 1 will make his return to action this evening if he’s fit enough to feature as he seeks to make up for lost time, with his comeback particularly welcome at a point in the season where the fixture list is unrelenting and we’re already having to cope with several other injury issues.
As Slot pointed out, he has two top-class goalkeepers in whom he can trust, and we imagine that most Liverpool fans would be satisfied with whichever one he selects to start against Girona. It’s a choice that virtually every other manager in world football would crave the luxury of having.