Former Newcastle striker Alexander Isak was substituted at half-time of Liverpool's 5-1 Champions League comeback win over Eintracht Frankfurt on Tuesday due to a groin injury.
Alexander Isak was taken off at half-time as Liverpool thrashed Eintracht Frankfurt
Alexander Isak was taken off at half-time as Liverpool thrashed Eintracht Frankfurt
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Alexander Isak's misery continued despite Liverpool's 5-1 Champions League triumph over Eintracht Frankfurt which brought their four-game losing run to an end .
British record signing Isak was substituted at the interval with a groin issue whilst right-back Jeremie Frimpong's stuttering start to the season continued after he was sidelined for a "few weeks" with a hamstring problem.
Manager Arne Slot is hoping his £125million striker – who lined up alongside fellow number nine Hugo Ekitike for the first time – isn't too seriously hurt as only last week he insisted the Sweden international could now be assessed properly after missing pre-season. In a sharp change of tune, he now claims it is a 'difficult balance' with Isak's fitness.
Slot again referenced Isak's lack of training and preparation while at Newcastle during pre-season, but failed to mention it was Isak's decision to go on strike and not play. It was an issue Newcastle's coaches - knowing the player well having carefully built him up to be more robust over the period of three years - warned about.
"Let's hope it's not that bad, but he had to go off because he felt his groin," said the Reds manager.
"Many people wanted me to play him more and we had to find the balance and unfortunately today that balance didn't work out for us perfectly. But let's hope for the best.
"Today with Alex and Hugo, I brought two players on the pitch who are usually able to score goals.
"Alex was a few times close but had to go off at half-time, and that's the difficult balance we are having with him.
"When he came to the club, he had hardly trained. So you bring him step by step forward, and then you feel there must be a moment where he can play twice a week, and the first time we try – he did it with Sweden as well – he has to go off.
"Normally you try to prepare players for once a week football, but if you are Liverpool you play every three days or normally three times in eight days but we've been unfortunate this season we have to play three times in seven days.
"We've tried to prepare him for that, we were really careful, and he was perfectly fit when he came back from the national team (last week) before the United game.
"We thought he was well prepared for that but the margins at the top are small. I'm hoping it won't be that bad, because if he's out for a few weeks it will put him back. So let's wait."
While Isak failed to add to his solitary goal so far Ekitike, on his return to the club he left in the summer, sparked the comeback from 1-0 down with the equaliser, which was followed by set-piece headers from centre-backs Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate before half-time.
After the break Florian Wirtz, the £100m summer signing from Bayer Leverkusen, started to find his feet and provided assists for Cody Gakpo and Dominik Szoboszlai.
Isak, meanwhile, will have his fitness and injury assessed ahead of a hectic run of games.