Giovanni Leoni of Liverpool FC
Giovanni Leoni of Liverpool FC
Andoni Iraola has faced the media ahead of Liverpool’s Premier League clash with Brentford on Saturday, with the head coach providing an update on the club’s injury situation.
The Reds travel to the Gtech Community Stadium after a busy week that included a Champions League trip to Austria.
Liverpool will be keen to return to winning ways in the Premier League after suffering a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City at Anfield last weekend.
They responded with a 6-3 victory over LASK on Wednesday, with Bradley Barcola scoring a hat-trick.
However, Iraola’s latest comments on Giovanni Leoni have provided a setback in the defender’s recovery timeline.
The Italian centre-back has been out since suffering a serious knee injury in September 2025, and his return to team training will take longer than initially anticipated.
“It’s taking more time than we wanted,” Iraola said. “The planning was to train with the team in this past international break [but] probably it’s going to be in the next international break, so we’ve lost one month in the process.”
He added: “Giovanni’s injury, I wasn’t here but talking to the medical department, it was not just an ACL – it was a bad injury, a lot of things around the knee were involved apart from the ACL.
“He has to be very confident, the rehab process has to be very careful with him and we want to make sure once he comes to the team, he stays there in a good place.
“It’s true that we’ve had, not a setback, but a little bit of a delay, if you want.
“The plan now is he starts in the next break. It’s not that far but it’s a little bit later than we expected, yes.”
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