This week, Liverpool and Galatasaray will have to cope without a handful of players in their Champions League encounter. The Reds travel to Turkey to face the Super Lig side in the first leg of their last-16 tie on Tuesday night.
Arne Slot’s side head into the game against Galatasaray off the back of a 3-1 victory over Wolves in the FA Cup last Friday.
The Reds, who lost 1-0 to the Turkish club in their previous clash during the league stage of the competition, will be eager to head back with a win from Istanbul ahead of next week’s second leg at Anfield.
Slot will have to head into the match against Galatasaray without some key players at his disposal for Liverpool, with a new blow coming this week.
Goalkeeper Alisson Becker is ruled out for the meeting with Galatasaray, the Brazilian staying on Merseyside after sustaining an injury in training.
And as a consequence, Giorgi Mamardashvili will likely be between the posts for Liverpool on Tuesday night when they travel to Istanbul.
“Ali was in the session but unfortunately felt something at the end,” Slot said. “People looked at it, we had a collective decision that it was not good enough for us to play tomorrow and therefore no use travelling.”
Liverpool will also be without Federico Chiesa due to illness after the Italy international watched Monday’s open training session from the sidelines.
“Federico was not present in the (training) session,” Slot said. “Last night he felt a little bit unwell so did not train with us today and did not travel with us.”
Slot will also be without Alexander Isak, Conor Bradley, Wataru Endo and Giovanni Leoni, all of whom remain sidelined with long-term injuries.
Galatasaray have few injury worries to note, but several players are missing for them.