Arne Slot to rest nine senior Liverpool players in Champions League shuffle
Arne Slot to rest nine senior Liverpool players in Champions League shuffle
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Arne Slot has said finishing top of the group does not matter in the new Champions League format, which will generate at least €55.945m (£47m) in prize money for Liverpool this season. Slot has taken the opportunity Liverpool’s qualification for the last 16 has presented and omitted several regulars from the final group game at PSV Eindhoven. Virgil van Dijk, Mohamed Salah and Ryan Gravenberch, who have started all seven Champions League wins this season, are among those rested along with Alisson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Ibrahima Konaté, Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai and Luis Díaz. Trent Kone-Doherty, an 18-year-old forward, midfielders Isaac Mabaya and Kieran Morrison, and the defender Amara Nallo are among the 21-man travelling squad.
“It has taken me a while to understand this new format,” said the Liverpool head coach: “But I’m now 100% sure it doesn’t matter if you end up first or second because we are guaranteed to play the team that is 15th, 16th, 17th or 18th, and then it’s down to the draw. We can’t drop to third. It has no impact on the league table but we will be trying to win.
“A wise man once said to me he’s never seen anything good come from losing a game. Thirteen or 14 players have mostly shared the playing time so it will also be good to get other players into a game rhythm because we will need them. The squad is a choice for the long term. Normally we work only on the game ahead but this is an exception. Today I am working on PSV and Bournemouth [who Liverpool visit in the Premier League on Saturday].”.
