Arne Slot insists Liverpool’s travel disruption will not be an excuse when they face Eintracht Frankfurt in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
The Dutch head coach had to cancel his pre-match press conference at Deutsche Bank Park after the squad’s flight from John Lennon Airport was delayed for around four hours due to technical issues with their plane.
They finally left Liverpool just before 8pm UK time on Tuesday — narrowly beating the cut-off point for planes to land at Frankfurt Airport, which closes overnight. Slot did not appear concerned, however, at how the delay could impact the Premier League champions’ bid to put their run of four-straight defeats behind them.
“No, it will not impact the build-up to tomorrow’s game,” Slot told LFCTV.
“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.”
Gravenberch has not travelled for the Frankfurt game but Wataru Endo has recovered from a hamstring issue (Michael Regan/Getty Images)
Ryan Gravenberch hasn’t travelled due to the ankle injury he suffered against Manchester United on Sunday, but Slot is hopeful that the holding midfielder will return for Saturday’s trip to Brentford. Wataru Endo is back in contention after recovering from a hamstring problem.
”Unfortunately, Ryan is not ready to play tomorrow,” Slot added. “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.
“We have to give him a bit of time and see where he is when we come back from Frankfurt.”
Slot is expected to make further changes with striker Hugo Ekitike eyeing a start against his former club after being relegated to bench duty recently to accommodate Alexander Isak.
Slot said: “It’s always special for every player if you go to one of your former clubs, especially if you did really well.
“In his situation, he did so well that I think not only he likes to go back over there, I think the fans over there like to see him as well for what he did for the club, because he was part of the team that brought them to the Champions League.
“Special for him. Special for Florian (Wirtz) as well to go back to Germany and play there. Special for Jeremie Frimpong because he was also, like Florian and like Hugo, so successful in Germany. For the three of them it’s nice to play in Germany again.”
