The Liverpool team’s flight to Frankfurt on Tuesday for their Champions League clash was delayed due to a mechanical problem.
Their travel chaos meant that Arne Slot’s pre-match press conference, scheduled for 7:30pm local time, was cancelled as a result.
3
Liverpool are looking to avoid a fifth straight defeat in all competitions for the first time in 73 years.
But they were dealt a setback on the eve of the clash against Eintracht Frankfurt at Deutsche Bank Park.
Around 40 minutes before the scheduled start, the club cancelled their press conference as they had not left the country at that point.
“Our pre-match press conference for the clash with Eintracht Frankfurt has been cancelled,” read a statement from Liverpool.
“A delay in the squad’s scheduled flight out to Frankfurt, due to technical issues with the aircraft, means the briefing will now not be able to take place.”
They eventually took off at 7:51pm for their 80-minute flight, ensuring they arrived before Frankfurt airport closed for arrivals at 11pm local time, but Slot insists it will not affect their preparations.
“No, it will not impact the build-up to tomorrow’s game,” Slot told UEFA.com.
“We have trained over here at the AXA. Normally we would have gone to Frankfurt a few hours earlier, now we are a few hours later. That can never be an excuse for the game tomorrow.”
Liverpool team news
The squad trained at their base in Kirkby at lunchtime ahead of their scheduled trip, yet midfielder Ryan Gravenberch was absent.
The Netherlands international sustained an ankle injury during Sunday’s defeat to Manchester United but was able to complete 62 minutes before being withdrawn as part of a wholesale tactical change by Slot.
3
Confirming Gravenberch’s absence, Slot told Liverpool’s website: “Yeah, I had to take him off during the weekend because he limped a little bit, as we could all see. So, unfortunately, he’s not ready to play tomorrow.
“That already means I definitely have to change one player and with him not being there, that might mean something for others as well, because he has such a particular quality in our squad, which we’ve seen when we played Bournemouth for example, when we played the Community Shield – that we missed a little bit of a player that was always protecting our back four.
“Ryan is not available for the Frankfurt game, hopefully he will be available at the weekend.
“But it’s an ankle injury, we have to wait and see, give him a bit of time and see where he is when we come back from Frankfurt.”
Curtis Jones was introduced in his place against United and could play the deep-lying role the Dutchman has excelled in since the start of last season.
It is likely he will start alongside Dominik Szoboszlai, who has been shunted around the team to accommodate other players, with the pair behind an attacking front four.
3
Wataru Endo has returned to training after a hamstring injury, but appears unlikely to deputise in Gravenberch’s role in Germany.
Striker Hugo Ekitike looks set to start against the club he left in the summer, along with £100million signing from Bayer Leverkusen, Florian Wirtz, who was also a substitute at the weekend.
Slot’s big decision appears to be whether to rest an out-of-form Mohamed Salah, as he did in their last Champions League match at Galatasaray, as he seeks to avoid a fifth straight loss – something which has not happened to the club since 1953.
Should he do so, Jeremie Frimpong, another player who was playing in the Bundesliga last season, or Federico Chiesa would come into consideration.
Frankfurt head coach Dino Toppmoller, son of Klaus, who was coach of Bayer Leverkusen when they beat Liverpool in the 2002 quarter-finals, played down their opponents’ poor run of form.
“Liverpool are lacking that little bit of energy at the moment, for whatever reason,” he told a press conference.
“They have been the better team in every game they have played recently and have had the better chances. We will face a world-class team.”
