Ibrahima Konate missed Liverpool’s crunch Champions League clash with Marseille for family reasons
Stephen Killen Senior Sport Central Audience Writer
19:41, 21 Jan 2026Updated 19:57, 21 Jan 2026
Arne Slot.(Image: TNT Sports)
Arne Slot admitted Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate is going through a “very sad” time after missing their Champions League clash against Marseille due to personal reasons.
The Frenchman did not travel with the Reds to Marseille after returning to his homeland to attend to a family matter. Konate was a notable absentee from their open training for Wednesday’s crunch fixture in the elite European competition.
Liverpool had already qualified for the next phase of the tournament; however, a win over Roberto De Zerbi’s side would fire them to within touching distance of automatic qualification to the Round of 16 without the need of going through the qualifying phase.
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As a result of Konate’s absence, Joe Gomez returned to the starting 11 to deputise alongside the Liverpool captain.
Speaking to TNT Sports, Slot said: “No, first of all for the family matter, why he is not here, it is very sad for him. Second of all, we miss him because I mainly played him [and Virgil van Dijk]…
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“Joe is a good replacement but not played much in the one-and-a-half year that I have been here, for obvious reasons.
“But it’s a great game for him, he’s not played a lot. He has showed that he can build a great partnership with Virgil, winning the Premier League under Jurgen five years ago now. He’s shown he can be a really good player for us.”
Slot opted to hand Mohamed Salah an immediate start, having recently returned from Egypt’s Africa Cup of Nations exploits.
The 33-year-old couldn’t inspire the Pharaohs to their first piece of silverware on the continent since 2010 as they were beaten by eventual winners, Senegal in the semi-final.
Prior to his departure for the competition, held in Morocco, the strained relationship between the head coach and Liverpool icon dominated headline following Salah’s incendiary remarks after their 3-3 draw against Leeds United.
Slot said: “I think Mo, since I’ve been here is only once not in the squad, that was for the reason I previously explained back then. Since then, he has been in the squad before AFCON.
“The moments when I didn’t play him once or twice, I tried something else. Although we want better results than 12 unbeaten, we steadied the ship and now, we sometimes miss chances from all the ball that we have, if there was one player in the history of Liverpool that can show he scores goals, it’s Mo Salah.
“Let’s hope we can keep our balance in terms of not conceding a lot and be able to create as much, then I’m sure Mo is able to score a goal.”
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