Two names have been added to Liverpool’s Champions League squad after Mohamed Salah’s omission and three further absences
Wellity Lucky pictured in Liverpool first-team training on Tuesday before the squad flew out to Italy for the Champions League clash with Inter(Image: Lewis Storey/Getty Images)
The last thing that Liverpool head coach Arne Slot needed was Mohamed Salah’s explosive outburst. But the timing of it, and Salah’s subsequent omission from tonight’s squad to face Inter at the San Siro in the Champions League, was particularly unwelcome.
That’s because Slot will also be without two other first-team forwards for the trip to Italy. The Reds boss confirmed at his press conference last night that Cody Gakpo is facing a spell on the sidelines through injury while Federico Chiesa is ill.
Unless Chiesa makes a late recovery and boards a plane today, that means Liverpool will be able to call on just three senior attackers this evening in the form of Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz.
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And with Wataru Endo also not being named in the 19-man travelling squad, and the injured Jeremie Frimpong and Giovanni Leoni already ruled out, the Reds have responded by adding two new players to their Champions League squad.
Wellity Lucky is a 19-year-old defender who made his full debut for the club when he appeared as a second-half substitute in the 3-0 Carabao Cup loss at home to Crystal Palace in October.
Lucky was one of the names on the 19-man squad released by the Reds. Kieran Morrison was not, but he too could feature in the matchday squad against Inter after he was also added as a List B player.
UEFA permit that clubs can add a player ‘registered on List B if he is born on or after 1 January 2004 and has, since his 15th birthday, been eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted period of two years, or a total of three consecutive years with a maximum of one loan period to a club from the same association for a period not longer than one year. Players aged 16 may be submitted if they have been registered with the club for the previous two years without interruption’.
Clubs are entitled to register an unlimited number of players on List B during the season but the list needs to be submitted no later than 24:00 CET the day before a match.
Morrison is a 19-year-old attacking midfielder who also made his full Liverpool debut when he was named in the starting line-up against Palace in the Carabao Cup.
He is likely to start for the Reds’ Under-19s when they face their Inter counterparts in the UEFA Youth League at the Konami Youth Development Centre at 3pm this afternoon.
But after being added as a List B player, he could then take his place on the bench for the first-team’s encounter at the San Siro.
Liverpool’s other List B players are goalkeepers Kornel Misciur and Bailey Hall, midfielder Trey Nyoni, who has been named in the 19-man travelling squad, and striker Jayden Danns, who is currently injured.
Calvin Ramsay cannot feature on List B as he is aged 22.