Liverpool are without a number of senior forwards for their trip to LASK at a time when club legend Mohamed Salah is scoring for fun for Trabzonspor
Mohamed Salah of Trabzonspor celebrates with fans after the match the Turkish Super League 2026/27 match between Trabzonspor and Galatasaray SK at Papara Park
Mohamed Salah of Trabzonspor celebrates with fans after the match the Turkish Super League 2026/27 match between Trabzonspor and Galatasaray SK at Papara Park (Image: 2026 Ferda Demir)
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Liverpool are down to the barest of bones offensively ahead of their Champions League trip to LASK.
The Reds were without the injured Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexander Isak and Cody Gakpo for the trip to Austria, along with long-term absentees Hugo Ekitike, Conor Bradley and Giovanni Leoni.
With Federico Chiesa and Wataru Endo also ineligible, Andoni Iraola was forced to call upon Jayden Danns and Joshua Sonni-Lambie to bolster his hindered attacking ranks, along with fellow academy youngsters James McConnell, Luke Chambers and Wellity Lucky.
It means Liverpool travel to Austria with just 15 senior outfield players, with the aforementioned quintet called up to help make up numbers.
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Meanwhile, Iraola’s attacking options see Danns and Sonni-Lambie join Bradley Barcola, Victor Munoz, Rio Ngumoha and Lewis Koumas.
Between them, the hexet boast a combined total of just seven goals for the Reds with none coming in Europe and only three in the Premier League, while Danns boasts the most career goals for Liverpool with three.
In contrast, Szoboszlai, Isak, Gakpo, Ekitike and Chiesa have a combined total of 113 goals for the club.
Consequently, Virgil van Dijk, Florian Wirtz, Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch are the only players in the travelling squad to have ever previously scored in the Champions League for the Reds.
Offering up a combined total of just 13 goals in Europe’s elite competition, the Argentine leads the way, having been responsible for six of those strikes.
Admittedly, Liverpool now boast back-to-back Champions League winner Barcola in their ranks. Yet despite such experience, the former Paris Saint-Germain forward has only scored six times in the competition himself.
Evidently, Iraola is going to need other members of his depleted squad to step up in Austria and take on the goalscoring mantle if the Reds are to emerge victorious.
Liverpool won 3-1 the last time they travelled to LASK back in September 2023. Yet despite that fixture taking place in the Europa League, Jurgen Klopp’s squad was arguably stronger than what Iraola now has at his disposal.
The German made 11 changes from the previous victory over Wolves that day, yet his starting XI in Austria still included Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Gravenberch.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Salah, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez were all turned to from the bench, as the likes of Alisson Becker, Diogo Jota, Curtis Jones, Andy Robertson and Gakpo were all left unused.
Quick-fire goals from Nunez and Diaz gave Liverpool the lead either side of the hour-mark before Salah emerged from the bench to wrap up the scoring late on. What Iraola would do for such depth now.
Given the Reds’ shortage in attack, they could be forgiven for ruing Salah’s summer departure after he tore up the final year of his contract and went on to join Trabzonspor on a free transfer.
The Egyptian, who is Liverpool’s all-time leading goalscorer in both the Champions League and Europe altogether (48/53 goals), admittedly endured a poor final season on Merseyside as he struggled for form, was on occasion dropped from the side and clashed with former head coach Arne Slot.
He would score just 12 goals in his final season for the Reds, with seven coming in the Premier League, to take his overall tally to 257 and further cement his place as Liverpool’s third-highest all-time goalscorer behind Ian Rush and Roger Hunt.
But just nine games into his Trabzonspor career and Salah has already equalled his return of league goals from during his final season on Merseyside.
The 34-year-old has enjoyed an electrifying start in Turkey, returning seven goals and three assists from his first seven Turkish Super Lig games - including a hat-trick in a 4-0 thrashing of league-leaders Galatasaray.
He is both the joint-leading goalscorer and playmaker in the Turkish top-flight so far this season as a result, and has already broken a domestic record, having become the fastest player to reach 10 goal contributions in the modern history of the league.
While the Turkish Super Lig is admittedly not at the same level as the Premier League, it would appear that tales of Salah’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
And with it regularly joked that he must have broken the record for records broken during his time at Anfield, such a trait has already been continued at his new home.
Salah is currently the 12th-highest goalscorer in Champions League history with 54 career goals, and has little in the way of competition closing in behind him anytime soon. Vinicius Junior is the nearest active player competing in Europe who trails him, down in 26th with 34 goals in the continent’s elite club tournament.
Coming from 108 Champions League appearances, the Egyptian’s durability was crucial to such a return.
In nine seasons with the Reds, the 34-year-old made 85 Champions League appearances - scoring 48 goals.
But he would remarkably only miss three Champions League matches altogether during his entire Liverpool career, with only one of them the result of injury.
A concussion forced him to sit out the famous 4-0 victory over Barcelona in the semi-finals back in 2019, with it another six years until his next absence from the matchday squad.
Coming against PSV Eindhoven in January 2025, he was only absent as he was rested by Slot for a game that was essentially a dead-rubber for the Reds as they topped the inaugural revamped league phase.
Meanwhile, he would infamously be left out of last season’s Champions League victory away at Internazionale on disciplinary grounds after hitting out at his manager publicly.
His only unused substitute appearance would then come later in the tournament away at Paris Saint-Germain as he was left on the bench by Slot as Liverpool fell to a 2-0 first leg defeat in the quarter-finals.
Given the Reds’ current offensive woes, Salah’s return to form in Turkey rubs salt in the wounds back at his former club.
While he was admittedly past his best and unlikely to ever again hit the highest of heights from his peak years at Anfield, there can be no disputing that the start to his Trabzonspor career has offered a reminder of his elite talent at a time when Liverpool’s attack has been left threadbare.
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