{"id":420288,"date":"2025-09-13T05:15:22","date_gmt":"2025-09-13T05:15:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/420288\/"},"modified":"2025-09-13T05:15:22","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T05:15:22","slug":"federico-chiesa-could-be-handed-liverpool-reprieve-after-unhappy-admission-and-uefa-rule-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/420288\/","title":{"rendered":"Federico Chiesa could be handed Liverpool reprieve after ‘unhappy’ admission and UEFA rule change"},"content":{"rendered":"

Federico Chiesa could still feature in the Champions League league phase this season despite being left out of the Liverpool squad\"FedericoFederico Chiesa of Liverpool(Image: Gaspafotos\/MB Media\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Federico Chiesa could be handed an unlikely reprieve by Arne Slot despite being left out of Liverpool\u2019s Champions League<\/a> squad. The Dutchman named a 23-man squad for the league phase of this season\u2019s tournament with the Italian a surprise absentee.<\/p>\n

The decision to leave out the forward was ultimately an enforced one due to UEFA regulations and the Reds\u2019 deadline day transfer business.<\/p>\n

Slot <\/a>opted to select Rio Ngumoha ahead of Chiesa<\/a>, with the teenager needing to take up one of Liverpool<\/a>\u2019s 17 overseas berths to be eligible for selection despite the fact he is English and only 17 years old.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Oliver Glasner sets record straight on Marc Guehi Liverpool transfer – ‘The truth is’<\/a>READ MORE: Arne Slot tells Federico Chiesa reaction to Champions League omission as Liverpool suffer injury blow<\/a><\/p>\n

This is because he does not yet qualify for a homegrown place or spot on \u2018List B\u2019 due to UEFA squad regulations, given that he only joined the club as a 15-year-old from Chelsea last summer.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, had a deadline day move for Marc Guehi<\/a> not fallen through, the Reds would have likely included Chiesa in their ranks with summer signing Giovanni Leoni – who is also not eligible to be registered on Liverpool\u2019s list of Under-21s players – left out instead.<\/p>\n

But with Slot needing the additional option at centre-back after missing out on the England international, he took the difficult decision to leave out Chiesa.<\/p>\n

Speaking ahead of facing Burnley, the Reds boss admitted that the forward had not been happy with his decision to leave him out of the Champions League squad – though Slot did praise Chiesa for his overall reaction.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course that is one of the most difficult things you have to do as a manager,\u201d he said. \u201cFor a player not to play, it is not always easy to tell them but not to be in the squad is always more difficult.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just explained to him why we made this choice. Of course he wasn\u2019t happy with that. I think he understood my arguments – that is not to say he agreed with them. He didn\u2019t tell me, by the way, that he didn\u2019t agree with them!<\/p>\n

\u201cBut he gave me the answer you want to hear from a player, that he will be there to help the team in the cups and in the league.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s one thing to say but I think he also showed this because he wasn\u2019t selected but he worked really hard these days to be ready for the upcoming days. That is even more important than what a player tells you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chiesa is eligible to face Burnley this weekend and has featured off the bench in all three of Liverpool\u2019s Premier League<\/a> fixtures so far this season.<\/p>\n

However, he will be unavailable for the Reds\u2019 Champions League opener against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night after being left out of Slot\u2019s squad.<\/p>\n

But just because Chiesa is not in Liverpool\u2019s European squad as things stand, that does not mean he definitely won\u2019t have a role to play in this season\u2019s Champions League.<\/p>\n

Following a last-minute rule-change from UEFA, Slot will now actually have two opportunities to make changes to his Champions League squad this season – and the first could even see Chiesa still play a role in the league phase.<\/p>\n

UEFA have made an amendment to their registration rules which will enable clubs to make one change to their squad during the league phase in response to long-term injury or illness.<\/p>\n

\"\"A new monthly print edition for all LFC fans, September edition on sale now<\/p>\n

WELCOME to the second edition of Blood Red<\/a> \u2013 your new monthly publication from the ECHO covering everything you need to know about what\u2019s happening at Liverpool FC.<\/p>\n

This month, our focus is on Europe as Liverpool’s Champions League campaign kicks off with the Reds looking to bring home European Cup number 7. As well as a pull-out fixtures guide to the group phase, we profile every other club in the competition.<\/p>\n

Our writers cover Arne Slot\u2019s side all season long, home, away and abroad, seven days a week, and this special second edition<\/a> of Blood Red is full of their in-depth features, analysis and comment.<\/p>\n

There’s also an interview with Voice of Anfield George Sephton who looks back at his time at the club, we review the big tactical talking points of the season’s opening games, and we preview the next month of action as the Champions combine their bid to defend their Premier League crown with the start of their mission for Champions League glory.<\/p>\n

Available to buy HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Following a meeting of the UEFA Executive Committee on Thursday, the governing body stated: \u201cThe Executive Committee approved an amendment to the 2025\/26 UEFA men\u2019s club competitions\u2019 regulations to admit the temporary replacement of a maximum of one outfield player with long-term injury or illness during the league phase until matchday six included.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reasoning for the adaptation is to ensure that squad lists are not unfairly reduced and players are safeguarded from additional workload pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a result, if one of Liverpool\u2019s 17 overseas players were to suffer a long-term injury or illness up to the club’s sixth Champions League league phase match away to Inter Milan on December 9, Slot would be free to temporarily call up Chiesa in their place.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, clubs will still be able to make a maximum of three changes to their squad in February ahead of the knockout phase.<\/p>\n

Consequently, Chiesa could still be added to Liverpool\u2019s Champions League squad mid-season, though one of the Reds\u2019 17 current overseas players would have to make way for the Italian to be included.<\/p>\n

Hypothetically, were Liverpool to revisit their interest in Guehi in January, the Crystal Palace captain could take up a currently vacant homegrown berth in the Reds squad with Leoni then dropping out of the squad to make way for Chiesa.<\/p>\n

Alternatively, the Italian could take the place of any of the club’s 17 overseas players if they were to suffer serious injury or complete a January transfer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Federico Chiesa could still feature in the Champions League league phase this season despite being left out of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":420289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[1121,748,393,22276,4884,179,763,2697,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-420288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-arne-slot","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-federico-chiesa","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-liverpool","14":"tag-liverpool-fc","15":"tag-marc-guehi","16":"tag-uk","17":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115195289495544886","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=420288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/420288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/420289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=420288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=420288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=420288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}