Federico Chiesa was absent for Liverpool’s 3-0 victory over Marseille in the Champions League.
Arne Slot has explained why Federico Chiesa was omitted from Liverpool’s squad for the victory over Marseille.
The Reds earned a 3-0 triumph in the Champions League at the Stade Velodrome - ensuring they have taken a huge leap towards qualifying automatically for the last 16 of the competition.
Liverpool were without key centre-back Ibrahima Konate for the game because of a personal reason. And after the warm-ups were complete, it was announced that Chiesa had been withdrawn from the substitutes’ bench.
Speaking at his post-match press conference, Slot said: “Two or three minutes after you guys left yesterday, he stepped out of the training session.
"We took him with us because we don't expect it to be a long-term injury. Because we stay here tonight, we are here a bit longer. We thought it was good for him to have his treatment over here and we were hoping that maybe he would have been fit in time. But he wasn't. He tried in the warm-up and he wasn't able to play. That's why he wasn't on the bench."
Liverpool will hope to have Chiesa back fit for the trip to AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League on Saturday (17.30 GMT). It remains to be seen whether Konate will be back available. The centre-back has started every top-flight game so far this season, although Joe Gomez deputised superbly against Marseille.
Speaking ahead of the game, Slot said "First of all, for the family matters why he [Konate] is not here, that is really sad for him. And then second of all, of course, we miss him because I mainly played him.”
Liverpool will travel to Bournemouth without Alexander Isak (broken leg), Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni (both knee).
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