{"id":86519,"date":"2025-09-26T10:04:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T10:04:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/86519\/"},"modified":"2025-09-26T10:04:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T10:04:08","slug":"federico-chiesa-added-to-champions-league-squad-arne-slot-confirms-liverpool-fc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/86519\/","title":{"rendered":"Federico Chiesa added to Champions League squad, Arne Slot confirms – Liverpool FC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federico Chiesa<\/a> has been added to Liverpool\u2019s squad for the Champions League<\/a> league phase following the long-term injury to centre-back Giovanni Leoni<\/a>.<\/b><\/p>\n

Chiesa was originally left out of Liverpool\u2019s senior group for the Champions League<\/a> with Arne Slot<\/a> required to cut one of his first-team players due to squad restrictions.<\/p>\n

But serious injury for Leoni \u2013 who is expected to miss the remainder of the campaign after tearing his ACL \u2013 has seen the club employ a new UEFA rule, as Slot confirmed on Friday.<\/p>\n

UEFA announced that, up to the sixth game of the league phase, clubs can make one change to their outfield players on List A in the event of long-term injury or illness.<\/p>\n

That means Chiesa has now replaced Leoni in the squad, which is clearly not a like-for-like change but was certainly the most obvious choice.<\/p>\n

Liverpool\u2019s updated Champions League squad<\/p>\n

\"Federico<\/p>\n

Goalkeepers:<\/b> Alisson<\/a>, Mamardashvili, Woodman<\/p>\n

Defenders:<\/b> Van Dijk, Konate, Gomez, Robertson, Bradley, Frimpong, Kerkez<\/p>\n

Midfielders:<\/b> Wirtz, Gravenberch, Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Jones, Endo, Nyoni*<\/p>\n

Forwards:<\/b> Salah, Isak, Ekitike, Gakpo, Chiesa, Ngumoha, Danns*<\/p>\n

* List B\n<\/p>\n

Many felt Chiesa should have been included in Slot\u2019s squad in the first place, but the head coach opted to register Rio Ngumoha<\/a> as his fifth attacking option alongside Alexander Isak<\/a>, Mohamed Salah<\/a>, Cody Gakpo<\/a> and Hugo Ekitike<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Liverpool can still add another centre-back to their Champions League<\/a> ranks ahead of any of their remaining clashes with Galatasaray, Eintracht Frankfurt, Real Madrid<\/a>, PSV Eindhoven, Inter Milan, Marseille and Qarabag.<\/p>\n

However they must fit the criteria for List B: born on or after January 1, 2004 and having been eligible to play for the club for at least two years since his 15th birthday.<\/p>\n

Academy defenders Carter Pinnington, 18, and Wellity Lucky, 19, both fit that description, as does Amara Nallo, 18, but he is currently injured himself.<\/p>\n

Rhys Williams<\/a>, who was drafted into the squad for the Carabao Cup<\/a> win over Southampton<\/a> which brought Leoni\u2019s injury, is not eligible as he is 24 and would have been required to be named on the senior List A.<\/p>\n

Chiesa provides valuable attacking cover<\/p>\n

\"LIVERPOOL,<\/p>\n

Chiesa\u2019s experience and versatility could prove particularly useful as the league phase progresses, particularly if Liverpool pick up further fitness problems.<\/p>\n

Slot could employ rotation at points, with the Italian capable of filling in across the entire forward line including \u2013 as shown late on against Southampton<\/a> \u2013 as a No. 10.<\/p>\n

Liverpool will also be aware of Mohamed Salah<\/a>\u2018s expected inclusion in the Egypt squad for a mid-season Africa Cup of Nations, which if he reaches the final would likely see him miss the trip to Marseille on January 21.<\/p>\n

Salah is set to miss the Premier League<\/a> clashes with Tottenham<\/a>, Wolves<\/a> and Leeds<\/a> over the festive period at a minimum, with Chiesa able to provide cover in his absence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federico Chiesa has been added to Liverpool\u2019s squad for the Champions League league phase following the long-term injury…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86520,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[9571,18,2443,19,17,132],"class_list":{"0":"post-86519","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-champions-league","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-federico-chiesa","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86519"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86519\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86520"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}